


Pretty as a Princess

by Astrodragons (CelestialKnight)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dress Up, Knives, Mistaken Identity, Multi, Princes & Princesses, Supportive Relationships, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Lance (Voltron), Trans Male Character, Trans Shiro (Voltron), dubious amounts of barbie movies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 13:17:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12190701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialKnight/pseuds/Astrodragons
Summary: Sometimes things happen, you know? Sometimes your team gets mistaken for royalty once. Sometimes it happens twice, but after it happens about sixteen times it gets old real quick.





	Pretty as a Princess

**Author's Note:**

> HEYOOO SO. I AM DEEP. IN TRANS GIRL LANCE HEAVEN. K. Also i'm giving the guidebook a middle finger cause it makes no sense and also apparently??? not very canon. I stand w/ 22 yo french canadian pidge and y'all can never tare that away from me. Also trans guy shiro. Also Shallurance. first time i actually like. Finish something before publishing it. Went over it w/ my correction software, hope I caught everything.
> 
> ANYWAY HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS VERY SELF INDULGENT FIC <3

She looked to the dress in front of her. It kind of looked like the dresses her twin Lana wore when she went out on dates with her girlfriend.

 

Lance slightly turned her waist to examine herself in the mirror. She had snagged this at the last space mall. She wasn't sure why. Originally she had gotten it for Pidge, more as a joke than anything, but she realized it was kind of a dick move on her part and decided against it, even if Pidge did or did not want to wear a dress. So she kept it.

 

Now Lance never had questioned herself much about herself. She always thought she was a guy, a dude flirting and a lady’s man. Oh how she had been wrong. She patted down the dress. It was an okay fit, but she could do some adjusting. Still, it was cute. She examined herself up and down, and remembered how her sister looked, identical to her now, Lana’s hair pinned up in a bun, strands of hair framing her face. God how she would love to look like Lana, but Lance was well, Lance. She was tall, lanky and well, her hair was hideously short. Even if the mullet was ugly, she was pretty desperate for Keith’s hair length.

 

Man she wished she had a pair of heels. She remembered stealing a pair of her mom’s or tia Camila’s heels. She never really liked the stilettos, she always liked the low ones, the ones that made her feel regal.

 

Really, it started with Allura, if she was going to be honest. At first she thought she had wanted to flirt with the princess, and really Lance still _does_ , have you _seen_ Allura? But slowly, she realized she wanted to _be_ Allura. It was a pretty shocking discovery, like Pidge being a girl and the castle being a ship. She began to reevaluate herself slowly, and things started to click for her, even if it was only to justify the now. Still, she had swallowed the ball of anxiety that formed in her throat and confronted the fact she wasn't as much of a guy as she originally thought. It was a pretty slow process, and soon she found herself fully coming to terms with it, but too scared to try anything.

 

Then the space mall happened, and yeah she had gotten the dress for Pidge, but really? Had it not actually been for _herself?_ She had a thing country-themed stuff, believe it or not. She really loved vintage, be it her old hand me downs from Fuentes McClain’s past, or just pure vintage. Really, the dress screamed her. She had watched her sister dress in Lolita, the Japanese fashion, and even helped her make some dresses. She loved the aesthetic. It was cute. She wouldn't have admitted in the past, but she had a soft spot for cute stuff. Now? God it took her so much willpower not to openly gush.

 

She patted herself down once more. Yes. She liked the dress. It was a soft colour, with not too much of an overwhelming floral pattern and  it flared in such a way that made her feel good about her body. She nodded her head. Yes, only a few adjustments to the chest and she would be—the dress adjusted itself immediately to what she had wanted. Right. Aliens. Different body types. Bless.

 

“Lance?” There was a knock at the door, and Lance jumped immediately. “Buddy, you okay? Pidge’s been kinda impatient since you promised to help her.” Right. Pidge. Lance sighed. She looked to her dress, and resigned herself to her fate.

 

“Coming dude!” She called out. She began to unzip the dress, and put it back to its hiding place in one of the hidden compartments underneath her bed. She pulled back on her jeans and oversized jacket. It was her grandpa’s last gift to her after all. She cherished it with her life.

 

She slid the door open, and greeted Hunk’s anxious face with a smile. “So where’s the little devil?”

 

“Um, well, she said she found this new room with what looked like a TV, grabbed all of her tools and bolted.” Was all Hunk had to offer as he fidgeted with his fingers nervously.

 

“Right.” Lance lowered her head as she placed her hands on her lips.

 

“Looks like we're going on a wild pigeon chase.” Hunk offered up with a smile, obviously proud with his pun. Lance could only groan in response.

 

“Paladins, to the bridge, immediately!” Coran’s voice echoed over the castle’s audio systems. Hunk and Lance looked to one another. Hunk offered a shrug while Lance patted his back and they both made their way to the bridge.

 

They weren't the last to arrive, but they weren't the first either. Shiro, dressed in full paladin attire, waiting for some sort of attack, while Keith stood beside him, not as prepared, but just as ready. Lance leaned against the back while Hunk made his way towards Shiro, who greeted him with a smile. And gosh was his smile nice. Just like in the pictures she had back home that Lana would tease her about. Yup, Lance had a thing for people out of her league. Totally worth it though, cause gosh was he a packed ensemble. If only he could give her the time of day outside of simple courtesy. More than just a: hi, how are you doing, etc. Maybe it was a bit much to want to get to know his fellow Paladins, but they were family, right? He was starting to break at Keith, who gave him information in short bursts, but the only shell he was having trouble with was Shiro’s.

 

Pidge finally arrived. Allura clasped her hands together, and looked to all five of them. Gosh, her eyes were stunning. Really. Lance had a thing for eyes. She could get lost in his eyes for all of eternity. “Paladins.” Allura’s voice caught Lance’s attention. “I would like to address the recent spike of… mistaken royalty.” They all winced.

 

“Yeah, it's like the third time I'm mistaken as a princess this month.” Pidge piped in, obviously not happy with constantly being mistaken for royalty. God, Lance could only _wish_ to be mistaken for a princess prophesied by some alien planet, but nope. Plain old average Lance.

 

“Yes, and our current mishap with Hunk had been less than... pleasant,” Allura frowned at the memory.

 

“The princess and I have been trying to come up with solutions, but we're at a stump. None of you have our shape shifting abilities, and I don't think disguises will work anymore.” Coran frowned.

 

“Aw, and I really missed that space pirate outfit.” Lance joked from the back, only earning her a roll of eyes from Keith, a snicker from Hunk and Pidge, and being completely brushed off by Shiro.

 

“Maybe we can come up with something on our own end?” Shiro jumped in.

 

Pidge adjusted her glasses as she placed a hand on her chin. “I have been meaning to try making alien appearance modifiers. Maybe some sort of projectors?”

 

“We could avoid visiting the planet altogether and let Allura handle the people.” Keith offered up.

 

Allura shook her head. “That is insensitive of the Voltron Paladins to avoid the people they have saved or attempt to make alliances with. Pidge, feel free to make those devices. If you need help, Coran is at your service.”

 

“Uh.” Pidge looked to Coran, who was proudly stroking his moustache, “thanks.” Was all she could say as she looked back to Allura awkwardly.

 

“Lance?” Allura called out to Lance as the others dispersed. Pidge and Hunk looked to Lance, but she shrugged, having no idea what she wanted. When the others were out, leaving Allura and Lance alone, there was a sort of twinkle in her eyes.

 

“So, have my charming looks finally swayed you?” Lance asked, a smug smile on her face.

 

Allura rolled her eyes, but clasped her hands back together. “So, it seems we barely know each other.” She began.

 

Lance raised an eyebrow. “It's sort of what happens when you're focused on a war, you know? No time for ‘chattering get back to work Lance’.” Lance parroted the words Shiro had told her weeks prior.

 

“Well, maybe it's time to change that!” Allura continued with vigour, and there was still a twinkle to her eyes. “Getting to know one another is an important bonding method.” She concluded.

 

“Tell that to Shiro and Keith.” Lance muttered, looking to the side.

 

Allura sighed, and took Lance’s hand. “Now now, it's no time for that. So? Tell me a bit about yourself?” Allura leaned in, excited about something Lance still had no idea about.

 

“Well, uh,” Lance gulped, and god she really wanted Allura to pin her against a wall and make out with her, or god she would totally be down to pin the princess to the ground and kiss her senseless. Lance licked her lips, and ran a hand through her hair. “I'm a Leo, 5’9 of hidden muscle, as flexible as you want me to be and passionate all night long.” Lance you complete and utter idiot.

 

“How… enlightening.” Allura paused, unsure of her words as she continuously opened her mouth like a fish out of water. What exactly did all of that mean? Humans baffled her.

 

“Anyway gotta go Pidge needs me.” Lance sent finger guns to the princess and a clicking sound with her mouth, leaving the princess of Altea dumbfounded as to what exactly had happened. She stared vacantly to where Lance had been standing, wondering what she had done wrong.

 

It was Pidge all over again.

 

Lance scampered off from the bridge only to be pulled by the hood of her jacket to an undisclosed location. She looked around, only to find Pidge tapping her foot impatiently by the gaming console they had bought so long ago but abandoned because it didn't work because no Earth to Altean tech adaptors. Pidge had gotten tense recently, and she really needed the relief.

 

“So are we going to work on this or what?” She asked, arms crossed, lips in a frown and gaze impatiently looking Lance up and down.

 

“Hey, buddy, pal, you can put me down now.” Lance looked up to Hunk, who still had a tight hold on her hood.

 

“Oh, right, sorry.” Hunk put down Lance, patted her shoulders in a brushing manner and gave an apologetic smile to Lance. Lance returned the gesture with a single pat on the shoulder and made her way towards Pidge. She sat down in front of the shorter girl, her legs crossed and her gaze turned upwards.

 

“So, what do you need?”

 

“Well, I've been trying to figure out means to create a human outlet on this ship for the hdmi cable as well as the electrical current.” Pidge looked upwards as she tilted her head to the side, recounting her previous endeavours.

 

“And how did that turn out?” Lance inquired, hoping maybe spitballing could help the shorter girl out.

 

“Horribly.” Was all Pidge had to say as her body slouched over, her eyes turned downwards and it was as if she had had the worst day of her life. Which she probably did.

 

“Okay… well, have you considered adaptors?” Lance offered up, as if it was an obvious solution, but her voice hitched as she trod water with the older girl.

 

Pidge seemed as if a wall had hit her and the most glaringly obvious answer had been in her face this entire time. She took a deep breath, obviously upset with herself for not coming up with the idea sooner. “No. I didn't.” She swallowed saliva a few times, trying hard not to scream at herself in frustration.

 

“Anytime.” Lance gave Pidge a salute before, booking it before she exploded. Lance patted Hunk on the back, giving him the best of luck with the ready to explode girl. Hunk looked to Lance desperately, unsure of exactly what to do, but Lance only gave him a wave as she scampered off to do something else. Maybe she could chill in Blue? She heard a purr from her Lion. Blue would enjoy that. To Blue it was then!

 

The halls were always eerily quiet, and to be honest ever since the ghost incident she was kind of afraid of the hall, dreading that she could be ejected out of the castle at moments notice.

 

There was a pat on her shoulder, and she gave a frightful cry, and turned around with a jump, her heart pounding in her ears. It had only been Shiro. Well, her heart was still pounding in her ears, but now for completely different reasons. Shiro pulled his hand away as if he had been burned, but quickly recomposed himself. “Don't forget we have marksman training.” Was all Shiro had wanted to say, before he walked off. He gave a glance back to Lance, but then was gone for good.

 

Lance let out a breath she had no idea she had been holding. Right. Markman’s practice with Shiro. “Wouldn't miss it for the world.” She muttered to herself. And honestly, she wouldn't, because the reason why her heart was pounding in her ears was because of her massive crush on him. Yup, she finally admitted it. She had the biggest freaking crush ever on mister space Boy Scout. Now really, she had the biggest crush on him before all of… _this_. But she had mistaken it for pure idolization. Now though? _Now that she could see him up close and personal and know **him**_. Oh god she wanted him to press her up against a wall and choke her. Maybe Shiro wouldn't do that because that was a bit too kinky, but really Lance was a masochist and she _really_ wanted it rough. Also she definitely has a thing for people who could easily break her. Hunk back at the Garrison, and now Allura and Shiro. Yup. She was screwed. And god did she want to be screwed.

 

She shook her head, stopping her hallway daydreams. She had to get dressed and meet Shiro in the training room for marksmen practice where he would be alone. With her. And watch her as she made shots and… oh god this was going to be torture, wasn't it?

 

Turned out, it was worse than she could have ever _imagined_. Look if the paladin armour wasn't blocking any form of physical contact, you know what? She would be dead. Yup. This proximity was _killing_ her, and god was it easy to lose focus with his voice calming her into a trance. So she had a few… okay more than a few pot shots that landed her a bit of scolding. Look it really wasn't worth it. The tiny sad smile he gave her shattered her heart, and she felt small beneath him. He was like, god he was just an imposing wall and… no mind for the love of _god_ **_get out of the gutter_**.

 

His face softened. Oh. This was new. “Is everything alright?” He asked, his voice was low, so small, as if she were made of glass. His eyes were searching for something, answers maybe?

 

“What—me?” Lance looked around as she jabbed her thumb to her chest. “I'm fine! Better than fine I'm _fantastic_.” She tried to sound smooth, hoping that hey, at least this honest reply would pass. “I think I've made some breakthrough with Allura. I mean, taking it slow is cool. Perfectly fine with that.” Lance looked to the side, a bit distracted by the thought of Allura. Yeah, some tiny little part of her heart really thought Allura was coming on to her, and yup she was going to push that thought full throttle.

 

Shiro looked to her dumbfounded. “O…kay.” Shiro placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “You're going to need to put your head where your mouth is. You're not much of a sharpshooter if you have Allura on your mind.” He paused for a second. “And in the romantic way.” He further clarified. Lance looked at Shiro’s hand. Oh god if he only _knew_.

 

“Excuse you, but I am an amazing sharpshooter!” She retaliated. Nice going Lance, head always as stubborn as a bull’s, but god was her pride as big as her ego.

 

“Your performance today would say otherwise.” Shiro gestured to the remnants of their training exercise. It was a mess of missed shots and dummies still left standing. About six of them were left standing. Lance turned her head to follow his arm, and recoiled a bit. Still, she had some spunk still left, a bit. “You still need a bit of practice before we can function as a team.” Shiro lowered his head, crossed his arms and turned around, beginning to walk away. “We’ll pick this up again.”

 

Lance looked down to her Bayard, and back to the dummies. Yeah, stubborn as a bull. She summoned her gun, took a breath, aligned the shot and hit her mark. One of her really, only, things she _was_ boastful about at the Garrison was her marksman skill. When she was in the right mindset, which was sometimes as common as a daisy or as rare as a blue moon, she was a terror. Other times she was a laughing stock. Now the difference about her Bayard and guns at the Garrison were that this was a magical weapon; no reload. It fired, it fired and it fired. Of course it did have a fire _rate_ , and the pretty decent recoil, considering it was almost minimal, but she wanted to reload nonetheless really. Habit she guessed? She aligned herself, took a breath and her shot, but it was a bit off from what she would have liked. Still, it hit the dummy with precision. Rinse and repeat for the remaining four dummies. Shots that either hit clean centre, or were off by a bit.

 

Lance sighed. She turned around, only to notice Shiro, still standing behind her. Oh, right, she had been doing it to be petty towards him. Shooting sort of just cleared her mind up. Right, Lance, you were being petty. She put on a cocky grin. “How would my performance say otherwise?” Shiro’s bewilderment and awe were broken with that simple sentence.

 

“I'll see you tomorrow, you're up after Keith.”

 

“Saving the best for last?” Was the only good comeback Lance had to say, and hey, she thought it was _amazingly good_. Shiro on the other hand, not so much. He didn't bat an eyelash. He gave her a pat on the shoulder, pulling her away from her haughtiness, making her look up to him. Gosh, his eyes… they were like a black hole and she felt herself being sucked in fast. He turned on his heels, leaving her a bubbling mess. Once gone, she took her head in her hands and groaned loudly.

 

Shiro paused from the shout he heard. He turned back to the sealed door, wondering if he should go back inside and check on Lance, or go find Pidge and ask her a few questions. It was the muttering he heard that bothered him. It was pretty loud, but he still needed to stand closer to the door to catch the words he realized had not been for his ears.

 

There was a large groan, that turned into a sigh. He heard the sound of a slap, but almost in a sort of wake up manner, and not in a form of self-harm, hopefully. He had _no_ idea how to deal with that bundle. “…probably thinks you're an idiot. G o d, why are you such a stubborn girl holy shit. All he was trying to do was be helpful but noooooo.” He heard her draw out her vowel. “You had to be ‘hey look I can actually do this and totally wasn't fantasizing about you fucking me into the wall.’” There was another loud groan, and Shiro quickly realized he had not meant to hear any bit of that personal rant. His face was scarlet because wow… that was new information.

 

He decided to scuttle off, and find Pidge. He was still a bit distracted when he got to Pidge, the rant playing along in his head like a broken record. He handed Pidge what she needed, but he was obviously distracted as she raised an eyebrow towards him, wondering what got him like this, but moved on nonetheless. It was tough being a Paladin of Voltron, possibly far worse for Shiro, the Black Lion Paladin.

 

She raised the adaptor to her face. Yes, she was quite proud of her handiwork. “Shiro, pass me the console? I'm going to see if Lance’s plan actually works.” Lance’s name seemed to get him out of his trance. Pidge’s eyebrow rose higher.

 

Shiro handed her the console. She plugged in the adaptor, and looked to the foreign Altean tech. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and crossed her fingers that for the love of all things pure and adorable in this world it actually worked. There was a pause as they both looked up intently to the screen that projected itself in front of them. Altean runes displayed on the screen. Pidge bit her lips, ever so hopeful that this _would_ work. Her eyes were stars when she heard the familiar chime of the console and she almost cried. “It works.” She slowly reached out towards the holoscreen, water in her eyes. “His idea actually worked.” She sounded like a kid who just went to Disney world for the first time. Well, even if Pidge was 22, Shiro was sure she would still sound like that if she saw her favourite character. Absolutely positive.

 

“Lance came up with this?” Shiro asked, looking at the adaptor. He wouldn't have guessed Lance was the tech savvy type.

 

“Idea, yes. Tech? Absolutely not. I am _not_ letting him touch anything. Last time he touched anything tech related he thought it was haunted. _Never again_.” There was this undertone in her voice that seemed as if she had made the greatest mistake of her life. Her eyes look distant as she bit the corner of her lips. A horrible decision.

 

Well, that explained something.

 

The words continued to echo in the back of his mind like a repetitive lullaby. Pidge turned her head to Shiro, and he seemed about as dazed as herself only a moment earlier. She frowned. “Are you okay? This is the third time you space out on me.” Pidge titled her head, her eyes scrunched, trying to make out the unreadable.

 

“I'm fine, a bit on my mind.” He brushed her off. Really he just… he didn't know exactly what he was doing. He felt a bit odd, evaluating and dissecting each sentence. It was getting on his nerves.

 

Pidge gave him one last look, not convinced at all. She pouted at him, and returned to her gaming console. “Alright. Good talk. Now, if you will I have to kick Hunk’s butt at video games, could you send him my way if you see him?”

 

Shiro turned his head to Pidge. “I'll be sure to send him your way.” He rose from the ground with a small grunt, and left Pidge alone to her video game.

 

At first, it was only the last sentence that repeated over and over in his head like a broken record. It caused him to be a horrible shade of red. Now that that one had numbed down, the beginning could become the broken record. At this point, he found himself with Keith, once again in the training room, watching him take on the gladiator bot level four. He hadn't been paying as much focus as he should have, and really now he should be kicking himself in the butt. It came to his realization that he had definitely overheard a monologue he should have not been privy to.

 

The call of Keith’s voice drew his attention. He jogged up to Shiro, concern as plain as day on his face. Shiro took note of the gladiator bot down for the count with a few gash marks to the chest. “Is everything alright?” He asked, tentatively resting a hand on Shiro’s shoulder.

 

“I'm fine, thank you. I just have a few things on my mind.” Shiro noticed Keith’s lips form a flat line, and Shiro felt a bang of guilt. “It's nothing serious, don't worry.”

 

“You say that, but I can't help worrying.” Keith’s voice was soft, and eyes sincere. Keith moved from standing in front of Shiro, to finding himself seated beside him. “If it wasn't anything serious, you wouldn't be worked up like this. That's not like you.”

 

Shiro sighed. Keith knew him way too well. They weren't best friends for nothing, really. “I overheard a conversation I shouldn't have been privy to.”

 

Keith looked to him, wondering how that could have been eating at Shiro, an eyebrow raised in incomprehension. “And?”

 

“And?”

 

“We've all overheard conversations we shouldn't. I'm sure it happened a lot back at the Garrison.” Keith shrugged.

 

“That's not the issue.” Shiro shook his head, resting it down in his left hand, looking down to the floor. He felt a hand place itself on his back in a soothing manner.

 

“Then what’s the issue?” Keith was only nothing, but supportive, not pushy at all. He was gentle, and understood that things like this weren't to be rushed.

 

Shiro looked up, and before he could even reply, the door opened, and a cheery voice greeted him, before shutting up completely. There was an awkward silence as Lance looked between Shiro and Keith, unsure exactly what to do. “Um, if I'm interrupting something special between you two I can come back later.” Lance slowly began sliding himself out the door, staring Shiro and Keith down as she moved backwards.

 

Keith only looked at Lance with annoyance, while Shiro rose from where he sat. He hadn't realized it had already been the next day. It was easy to lose track of time. The broken record also really helped. “It's alright, Keith and I were just finishing up.” He called out. Lance stopped shuffling.

 

Shiro turned back to Keith, and hushed his voice down to a whisper. “Go hit the showers and get some rest, I’ll make it up to you later.”

 

“That's a promise you better keep.” Was all Keith said, before walking out, only giving Lance a glance before having left the training room. Lance sent him a salute before turning back to Shiro, her helmet slung lazily in her right hand.

 

“So?” She asked.

 

“Same routine as yesterday. Hit the bots on target, without distractions.” He instructed. Shiro stood to the side as he watched her do her work. She seemed a lot more focused. Shiro had always wondered why Lance never really came to talk to him, and if it was because of the whole flustered mess thing, it was easily understandable why. She checked her weapon, aimed and took her shot. Rinse and repeat.

 

“A lot better than yesterday.” Shiro praised, but all Shiro got in response was a squeak and her gun firing in fright.

 

“Oh my gosh I forgot you were there.” Lance took a breath, calming her beating heart.

 

“Are you okay?” Shiro reached out a hand to her, but she brushed him off.

 

“Yeah no. Good. Great actually.” She panted, hand on her chest as she looked around. “Fine and dandy.”

 

“If you feel ready, we can increase the training sequence and move onto moving targets.” Shiro offered.

 

“Yeah, yup that sounds, that sound great.” She turned away from Shiro, gun raised. “Training sequence level 3.” She called out. The boys began to move around in hectic patterns. A few shots ended up being pot shots, but she did get in a few precise clean shots before the bots all fell to the floor lifeless. Lance pulled off her helmet and shook her head with a sigh.

 

“Great work.” Shiro congratulated as he moved closer to Lance. “With some more practice, you’ll be able to hit a moving target without much thought.”

 

Lance looked up to meet Shiro’s eyes, then back down to her gun. “Yeah, great.” She seemed a bit bummed out. She opened her mouth, but quickly bit her lips.

 

“Your stance needs a bit of improvement though. To be movable for combat, you're going to need to put less weight on your heels and more on your toes.” Shiro offered up. He did the stance, demonstrating how he could quickly move if necessary and retaliate an attack. “It makes you less of a sitting duck. We won't get to moving just yet, but it's good to have it ingrained in your muscle memory.”

 

“Okay, thanks for the advice.” Lance said. She imitated Shiro’s stance, moving her weight from her heels to her toes. It was a new feeling, but if ballet with her sister taught her anything, it was weight balance. “Training sequence level three!” She called out. The bots came down again, all moving in a hectic manner. She aimed, breathed and took the shot. She took a few steps, to the left and to the right, to find the best trajectory to her target. With only three misses, all the bots were down.

 

To say the least, that sort of rapid improvement was not what he had been expecting. She let her Bayard fall to the side and back to its base form. She let out a sigh, and turned around to Shiro, his jaw open slightly, ready to catch whatever aliens flies were in the near vicinity. She blushed, scratching the back of her head. “So uh, I feel like I did okay?”

 

“I'd say that's far better than okay.” Shiro countered.

 

“Yeah, but I missed a few and it's only level three, Keith can—” she interjected, but Shiro raised a hand, cutting her off immediately.

 

“You are _not Keith_.” He placed his hands on her shoulders in a reassuring manner, looking into her eyes. “ _You_ have made impressive improvement in only a day. You can only evaluate yourself _with yourself_ , not with others.” He gave Lance a reassuring pat on the back, and had to restrain himself from ruffling her hair. “Now, what do you need to work on?” He asked her, seeing if she could properly evaluate herself.

 

She fumbled, looking around awkwardly, rolling her eyes up, down and from left to right, racking her head for the answers. “My aim… timing, breathing and footing?” She asked, hoping for Shiro to approve of her answers.

 

“If you think that's what you need to work on, then continue practicing. Be sure to follow the time slots, Pidge is using this room after you.” Shiro patted Lance on the shoulder one last time and began to make his way towards the door.

 

“Training sequence level 3!” He heard Lance call out before exiting. Before Shiro even realized it, he had bumped into another person.

 

“Are you okay?” Looking down, he quickly realized it was the princess, mice on her shoulder squeaking in offence. “Princess, I am so sorry.” He extended his hand to her, and she graciously took it.

 

“It's alright. Accidents happen.” She smiled to Shiro, and patted down her dress. “Training hard I see?” She hummed.

 

“Helping train the others.” He said nonchalantly, as if it were like picking up milk at the grocery store.

 

“Oh, wonderful!” She clapped her hands together. “I'm glad to see everyone working hard towards bettering themselves.” Allura turned her head to the door. “May I ask who is in there currently?” She knew full well who was in there. The mice had informed her. Still, she wanted to seem as if she had not really intended to go there in the first place. She had a plan, a fairly convoluted plan, but a plan nonetheless.

 

“Just Lance practicing with his rifle.” Shiro shrugged.

 

“It's good to see him take initiative.” Allura nodded her head. She smiled, waiting and hoping Shiro would leave. He looked to her, gave her a look, turned on his heels, gave her another look and began to walk away. She sighed, relieved she was finally alone. She made her way towards the door, and entered without another thought. She slowly made her way towards Lance, watching the other girl take aim at each bot, cursing underneath her breath as she missed a shot, but quickly correct her aim. When done, Allura clapped her hands, clearly impressed with the display. “Impressive work.” She praised.

 

Lance squeaked, firing a shot with her gun, hitting the ceiling, before awkwardly fumbling with her words and hands. “Princess, wow hey, how you doing?” She grinned, moving back and forth on her feet, sending her finger guns.

 

“I'm doing quite fine, thank you for asking.” She clasped her hands, bringing them downwards. She moved forwards, questions on her mind buzzing like bees. “Now Lance, there's been something I have been meaning to ask.” She looked to the side, unsure if she should truly breach this, but she wanted Lance to feel comfortable, to not feel so alone or isolated.

 

Lance raised an eyebrow, and felt her heartbeat beginning to accelerate. Oh gosh we're her deepest fantasies about to be realized? Oh gosh she could only _wish_. Like when she was 15 and she was thinking about her math teacher in rather explicit ways. Everyone has had a crush on an instructor, or two, or three, or ten. Teenagers, you know? Lance bit her bottom lip. “Lay it on me princess.”

 

“Do you feel comfortable?”

 

What sort of question was that? Lance raised an eyebrow. “Um, I beg your pardon?”

 

It was Allura’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Maybe I'm jumping in to head first, but when the mice told me, I had been ecstatic, first Pidge, now you? I just wanted to be sure you were okay, this can be a very turbulent and terrifying time—”

 

Lance raised a hand, stopping the princess. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Wow wow, one word at a time.” She exhaled. “Okay so repeat in bullet point format.” This usually helped with her nieces and nephews.

 

Allura still seemed rather confused. “Bullet point?” Oh god she was adorable.

 

“Just list what you’re saying.”

 

“Oh.” Allura blinked a few times. “The mice informed me that you were a girl?” She looked to the mice on her shoulders as they nodded. “There aren't many other girls, we need to stick together, you know? Putting aside past differences, I was hoping to help, if you do not mind?” Her eyes were so kind, and Lance had trouble getting mad at a face like hers. Was Lance a bit upset? Yeah kind of. She looked to the mice and glared. Breach of privacy much. Lance looked to Allura, who seemed so hopeful. Yeah Lance couldn't say no to a face like hers.

 

“Well, I don't know much about being a girl.” She scratched her face, a small nervous laugh escaped her.

 

“Nonsense, by being you, you are being a girl.” Allura took Lance’s hand reassuringly, giving the taller girl the brightest of smiles. Lance looked down to the hand, shocked, but the words were some of the nicest she could hear right now.

 

“I have one thing to ask though?” Allura’s made a humming sound in acknowledgement, wondering exactly what the brunette wanted. “Tell your mice to learn what privacy means or else they’ll find themselves grilling on a shish kabob.” Lance leaned forward, glaring venomously towards the mice, a sneer on her lips. They moved further behind Allura’s hair, attempting to remain hidden.

 

“Pardon then, if all of this was insensitive on my part.” Allura bowed her head in an apologetic manner.

 

Lance shook her hands frantically. “No-no! God no, I mean maybe a bit upfront, but I’m not mad at you! Actually it's really sweet that you care and want to make me feel comfortable?” Lance turned her head away, a faint blush on her cheeks. “I probably would have never opened up to you guys, so it's… nice to have someone to talk to, you know?” She turned her head back to Allura, whose eyes were sparkling in awe, and Lance could only feel herself melting further and further from cuteness.

 

“That’s good! Now, if you are free that is, would like to join me for some,” Allura leaned forward and raised her hands to form quotation marks. “Girl time?” Lance covered her mouth and began to snicker. Allura moved back, looking to Lance in confusion. “What? What's so funny?”

 

“It's,” she snickered, “the way you said it.”

 

Now Allura furrowed her eyebrows and pouted her lips in obvious incredulity. “But that's how Pidge qualified it before turning me down.” Lance made a hand gesture, as if pointing to the obvious answer, a hand on her hip and a knowing smile on her face. The look of realization graced Allura’s features, and she visibly deflated. “She had patronized me?” Allura asked herself, aghast, but Lance moved forward and gave her a simple pat on the shoulder.

 

“I think she was being sarcastic. Pidge probably has a bit more on her mind then goofing around, despite how desperate I think she needs it.” Lance gave Allura a reassuring smile. “Now, what do you have in store for this bonding?”

 

Allura’s frown turned into a grin as she grabbed Lance’s hands within her own. “A surprise, but don't worry, no sparring as you have performed well during training, shame, but another time I suppose.” Allura looked to the side. What a wasted moment. She would have to make up for it. All Alteans girls bonded through blood, sweat and bruises, as well as other methods, which she was just about to introduce to Lance. “Now, follow me.”

 

“Well I'm not scared for my life.” Lance muttered to herself. Allura dragged her, and dang was Allura strong. There was literally no effort in dragging her down the halls, still, Lance was pretty light weight, both in alcohol and just general body mass. Allura could easily manhandle her and—not the time, Lance.

 

A grandiose room for a grandiose princess was all Lance had to say. It was the first time he had ever stepped in here, and it was far grander than her own miserable quarters—of course it is your only temporary—and soothing in nature. The lights felt like a room and nothing like a barric. By the by, she was quite jealous.

 

While Lance ogled at the room with green tinted eyes, Allura b-lined for her closet. She remembered how she had always wanted a little sister to dress up, was she using Lance as her scapegoat? Absolutely. Was she still attempting to show the girl the ropes? Yes.

 

She did not have much in her closet. A lot of her clothes were repeats of her current dress, but she did have a few… misfits within the bunch. Teenage Allura had a fling with glitter. Her closet was the testament to that chapter of her life. Many things remained: crowns were timeless accessories, as were circlets, tiaras and necklaces. Most importantly: shoes. Was Lance her size? Probably not. Were Altean clothes able to shift? Completely.

 

She pulled out a few things from her closet. An old dress she wore for light promenades, shoes she no longer found any real purpose for and hair clips. She nodded contently as she turned on her heels, and the sight before her caused her eyes to melt.

 

There lies Lance upon the bed, giggling so airily it sounded like a different person, the mice upon her hands and stomach doing the best to tickle her into submission. She did her best to retaliate, but soon submitted to their wrath. In a fit and tears rolling down her face, she took a breath, rubbed her cheeks and turned her gaze towards Allura. “So,” she began, “whaddaya got girl time?”

 

“This.” Allura shoved the few things into Lance’s hands expectantly, but she only stared owlishly. She blinked, blinked, and blinked again, trying to figure out exactly what to do. “They’re gifts, for you to try on, of course.”

 

Lance stared deep into Allura’s eyes, a mix of amazement, awe and a small twinge of something else she couldn't quite make out were in the younger girl’s eyes. “I can't.” Lance gently raised a hand, pushing the articles back towards Allura.

 

“I insist. They lay in my closet collecting dust, and I believe you could give them a new home.” Allura offered generously, a smile wide on her face as she pushed the articles towards Lance.

 

Longing and regret. Those were the two things Allura could see. And above it all, fear. There was fear so prevalent in the way Lance held herself, how she licked her lips, how her eyes flickered back and forth, as if deep in thought, too scared to move her hands closer and take the gift. Gently, Allura moved to sit beside Lance as her leg bobbed up and down anxiously.

 

“I'm sorry if I'm pressuring you too much.” Allura laid a smooth hand upon Lance’s back, who met her gaze. “My excitement may have gotten the best of me. Let us restart. My name is Allura, Princess of Altea, only daughter of King Alfor.”

 

“Lance Fuentes McClain, 7th kid to my mom Clara McClain and my Dad Horacio Fuentes.” Lance smiled.

 

“Six siblings?” Allura inquired. She was always fascinated by large families, for she was alone, without a mother, and her father, while loving, had duties to uphold.

 

Lance rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Yeah. Youngest of 7. I have an older twin sister, Lana. My older brother Emilio, my older older brother Patrick, older sister Rita, oldest brother TJ and my eldest sister Miriam.” She shrugged. “Mom and Dad wanted a big family. Grandma was a bit of a nag, but she spoiled us.” Lance snickered to herself as her eyes became distant. A deep sigh escaped her lips. The topic of family was something Lance seemed not comfortable with. She remembered words in passing Coran had told her.

 

Allura rose from where she sat and placed the clothing upon her bed. She grabbed Lance by the hand and marched down the halls. Allura’s march did not let, not even to Lance’s protests. She was a princess on a mission. Nothing could stop her now. They veered, turned, halted and embarked upon an elevator until they reached the observatory. The hollow projector illuminated as the universe spun softly on its axis.

 

“Um. Why are we here?” Lance looked around. She was a bit more secure being here now, compared to before. No longer were they're known robots who could be reprogrammed and used for remote detonation. Now all that remained was a ship she still debated if she trusted with her life.

 

“To show you something.” She spun around until she found what she wanted. Earth. She clicked on it with a smile and watched as the world turned dark, before they were greeted with bright light, and sounds as soothing as the sea. Wait. It was the sea, but an oddly a different colour. Allura turned her eyes to Lance, and took note of how she stiffened, how her hands covered her mouth and how her eyes watered. Was that good? Before she could even ask, though.

 

“ _Thank you_.” Lance croaked out.

 

They sat at the edge of the ocean. Allura wasn't sure for how long, nor could she really care. She listened intently as Lance blanketed about home, her family and anything that came to her mind. All Allura really had to do was nod and hum in agreement. One-way conversations seemed to be Lance’s specialty.

 

She learned a lot about Lance, a lot she typically would not know. Lance’s favourite colour was teal. She loved dolphins, belugas and puffins. She was pretty average at school, but super willing to learn. She appreciated the little things about Lance. The way she laughed awkwardly to lighten the mood, the silly little anecdotes and the ways her eyes sparked up in glee when talking about things she enjoyed. She found herself leaning into Lance’s shoulder, enjoying the scenery as she was lulled into tranquility.

 

Shiro felt the weight of his bed dip. He looked down to his hands while Keith scrutinized him, trying to figure out what exactly was eating Shiro up. So Shiro was positive of two things, two very _personal_ things about Lance. One, Lance was very into Shiro. Two, Lance identified as a girl. The first one he could deal with, he was dealing with a lot of things. Maybe he could never look Lance in the eye the same way again, like he could never look at a few people the same way ever again—apologizes to his third-year history professor—but the second thing? It felt too personal for Shiro to know without Lance coming out formally, and Shiro was drawing from his own experiences of being trans. He was at a path in the road, really. Now this is all extrapolating from his own experience and projecting onto Lance—the worst method to decide—but he had two general situations he could draw from this.

 

The first situation was feeling relief from having someone who accepted her and would be there, by extension, to support her. That was good outcome, broken down a lot after maybe some avoidance and yelling.

 

The second situation was his brain coming up with the worse possible outcome. Now, this one made him upset for reasons he couldn't quite place his finger on, but it was basically Lance no longer being able to trust Shiro, downright hating him and general avoidance, feeling as if personal boundaries had been crossed and breached. Even if accidental.

 

Now some small rational part of his brain was calling out to him saying, hey Shiro! You're over analyzing all of this and that maybe you should be humble about it and explain you overheard her! She respects you and won't think horribly of you!

 

But was Shiro being rational? Oh no rationality had been thrown out the door a very long time ago here was to unhealthy coping mechanisms and screaming yolo 24/7. Shiro really wanted to flip the switch and change channels, but no, all he was allowed to hear was the static of his own brain.

 

He felt a delicate hand place itself upon its shoulder, and Shiro looked up to see Keith’s concerned eyes. “Shiro…” he felt Keith lean in. “What's wrong?”

 

Shiro turned his eyes back to the floor, far more interesting and easier to mull his thoughts over then direct eye contact with Keith. Shiro sighed. “A lot, actually.” He gave a dry laugh in response. Shiro rubbed the back of his neck his left arm, causing Keith to lean back and the bed to dip further. “I overheard something I shouldn't have.” He wasn't going to give full details. He absolutely wasn't going to out Lance, _especially not to Keith_. He got enough of an impression Lance had some sort of a grudge against Keith, and he had an inkling of _why_ , but that wasn't important now, yet.

 

“The Princess?” Keith asked. Shiro shook his head. “Pidge?” Keith leaned forward, both hands on the mattress, leaning forward. No response, but a simple head shake. “Hunk?” He inquired further. Still nothing. “…Coran?” Wow, naming everyone, but Lance. Still nothing more than silence and a simple head shake. “Lance?” Keith asked incredulously. This time, truly nothing. No head shake, no vocal confirmation, nothing but the confirmation of silence. “If he bad-mouthed you I swear—” Keith began to mutter, his jaw clenching.

 

Shiro frantically raised his hands, trying to extinguish Keith’s flames. “No. No, he didn't bad-mouth me. Or you. Or anyone. I just… overheard something personal.”

 

“Personal…?” Keith tried to prove our further information.

 

“Personal.” It was all he was going to classify it as, and as much as Keith was going to be getting from Shiro’s mouth.

 

Keith gave Shiro a hard look, trying to see if he could extract _any_ information from just staring at him, but he was getting nowhere. He stood up, realizing this was getting nowhere, and Shiro wasn't set on opening up. He made his way to the door, and Shiro looked up suddenly, alarmed and concerned. “Keith?”

 

Keith turned around, a hand resting on the frame of the door. “If it's not about you, or doesn't harm the team in any way. Don't let it eat at you. Don't add more to the weight already on your shoulders.”

 

“Profound words.”

 

“Guess I picked that up from you.” Keith smiled. He turned, trying to exit one more, until.

 

“Keith?” He was called once more.

 

“Yeah?” He turned around once more, and was a bit surprised to see the twinkle of kindness in his eyes.

 

“Thank you.” Genuine affection.

 

“No problem.” Keith replied, each word full of fondness.

 

The door closed, and Shiro was left alone physically, but his thoughts continued to buzz like static, making the room a cacophony to his senses. He just wanted to lie down and stare up to the ceiling on end, before finding sleep finally nipping at his eyes, to only be awoken by banging at his door. Suddenly, his eyes fluttered open, the black nothingness he had been so kindly granted, gone within what seemed to be a second of peace and relaxation. There was another series of knocks, and with a groan Shiro finally kicked himself out of bed. He needed to get out every single day. He couldn’t allow himself to melt away to nothing. He had people who depended on him. He couldn't be sludge, not ever, not now, now yet.

 

He opened the door, only to be greeted with blue eyes he had been hoping to avoid. “Hey, um, Hunk and Keith got worried you skipped supper, so Allura sent me down here and brought you this.” She offered up a tray with the Altean Kool-Aid water, or their version of water, foodgoo and a spork.

 

“Thank you.” He took the plate, and watched as she waited in the hallways, not yet leaving. She seemed a bit fidgety, her fingers twitching, leg thumping, the small twitches of her lips and the movement of her eyes, back and forth from Shiro, her feet and the opposing wall.

 

“I was wondering if you, uh, wanted someone to eat with you? Eating alone really isn't fun sooooo, uh, yeah.” She avoided as much eye contact as possible, taking recurring glances to attempt to evaluate his response.

 

Giving it some thought, he allowed. “Sure.” He moved to the side, but she only looked incredulous. With a look of awe, she slowly made her way into Shiro’s room and towards his bed where she sat. The bed only dipping slightly due to her weight. She twiddled her thumbs and watched as Shiro sat down, taking the tray of food that had been resting on her lap.

 

They sat in awkward silence, and Lance was _positive_ she had sweat out all of her ingested water consumption for the day. Maybe she was being hyperbolic, but damn was it a long moment of silence. Absolutely horrendous. She could only hear the buzzing in her ears as she watched, in what felt like slow motion, Shiro taking a bite out of his food.

 

“So uh… why did you…” Lance kicked her legs and leaned forward slightly. She sat upright and looked Shiro in the eyes. “Never mind. It's probably a dumb question.”

 

Shiro swallowed what he had been chewing and gently put down his spork. Lance turned her head away from the eye contact, trying desperately to focus on anything other than Shiro. “Lance…” Shiro called out. Lance looked up, wondering what exactly he had wanted to say. “Why did I what?” His voice was soft, ensuring that he was being encouraging, and not mocking her in any way.

 

Lance scratched the back of her head. “Why did you decide to become a pilot?”

 

Shiro gave Lance a bright smile. “I wanted to leave a mark on history.”

 

“Really?”

 

Shiro nodded his head. “Yup. Going into space had always been an impressive feat, and I guess the stars always called to me? I mean, you open a history book and what do you see? No one like me. I wanted to be the first trans man in space, and I was, and the youngest pilot.” He smiled fondly. Yeah. He was proud of himself. “I'd be remembered for that, at least.”

 

Lance bit her lip. God. Why did she ask? Shiro didn't know. Of course he didn't know how could he know? He had been an entire year in space! There was no way to get any sort of Earth news to him. Now though? Did Lance want to be the one to tell him?

 

Shiro looked down to Lance. “Is everything alright?” He placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

Lance looked up, his touch bringing her out of her musing. “Uh, yeah. That was deep.”

 

“And you?” Shiro inquired.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Why did you want to become a pilot?” Shiro’s smiles were always so sweet, and Lance wished he smiled more often. It did him well.

 

“Well, I…I love space?” Her voice cracked from uncertainty. What could she say? She had no idea what words to even form. “I wanted… I wanted to do something. To feel like I was worth something. I saw you and I thought maybe, just maybe I could be a pilot, be a space explorer, defender of the universe and just…be? I just wanted to show the world I existed.” Lance gripped the bedsheets tighter, and she felt her cheeks grow hotter, and her eyes wetter. “Guess I got what I wanted.” She muttered to herself.

 

She looked up to Shiro. “I better go, have a nice evening.” She waved him off, leaving him alone with the foodgoo and having more unsatisfying questions than answers. He looked down to his foodgoo. He felt the broken record come back with a vengeance, and it was all that his thoughts wanted to hear.

 

Allura lied down on her bed and hugged her pillow tightly. Bonding with Lance this time around had been more enjoyable than she had originally thought. Lance felt a bit awkward trying on Allura’s dresses, but another quintant she would succeed and get the girl to let her inner princess out. That, and Pidge too. All it would take would be some convincing on her part. Then they could move onto the part she looked the most forward to. Sparring. Oh it had been so long since she had a sparring partner! She was raving at the idea. Oh my, there would be so much they could do! While she personally favoured the staff, she was fairly decent at hand to hand and a variety of other weapons. There was nothing less expected from the princess of Altea.

 

On the topic of sparring, she had attempted to recruit partners previously, but they all turned her down. It was frustrating. Maybe Lance would be more pliant than Hunk and Shiro? While Lance obviously did not match her in strength, maybe in agility? Or something else? This was so exciting!

She awoke giddy the next morning, a bounce in her step. She tied up her hair, put on her training suit and made her way to breakfast. There was no one else at the table, but Pidge. She tapped away at her computer, her eyes tired from sleep. To prove what she assumed, Pidge yawned.

 

“Good morning Pidge.” Allura greeted with a warm smile as she sat across from the shooter girl. Pidge looked up slowly, the look of death across her face, before giving Allura small wave and going back to her computer screen. Allura frowned, and dug into her foodgoo.

 

From across the hall, Allura heard the sound of the door opening. She turned her head, and caught sight of Shiro, dressed ready for battle, much like herself. Seeing her dressed ready for battle, Shiro raised an eyebrow. “Is there training expected for the day?”

 

“For myself, yes. Is there perchance anyone using the training room momentarily?” She inquired.

 

Shiro raised his eyes, going through the schedule in his brain. He made a hum sound, before reverting his gaze back to Allura. “Not momentarily, but Keith might be in there if you go now.” He offered up.

 

“Alright, thank you very much.” She finished the rest of her food and put away her plates. Shiro curiously observed her as she exited the room, a bright smile on her face.

 

“Do you know what’s up with Allura?” Shiro asked Pidge.

 

Slowly, Pidge raised her eyes from her computer screen, fatigue was heavy on her shoulders. “Honestly I never know what's up with her.” Pidge sighed. “Now if you don't mind, I’m going to yell at you until I figure out the error in my code.”

 

“Be sure to use your indoor yelling voice.” Shiro snickered, a smile on his lips. Pidge rolled her eyes, but this was a joke shared just between them.

 

Allura made her way down the hall to where she knew Lance’s room was. She was so excited. She just remembered. Lance needed to eat. Darn. She’d have to ask Platt to bring them a bowl. The mice got her request and they were on the task. Lovely!

 

Her rapid pace brought her towards Lance’s door. She looked to her right, then to her left, and knocked on the door. No response. She knocked twice. Still no response. She knocked a third time, far more furiously. Still not a single response. “Lance?” She called out. She finally heard some shuffling, and a large fall. Concerned, she unlocked the door to Lance’s room in a few ticks and found the brunette sprawled across the floor, her blanket curled up around her. Allura bit her lips, trying hard not to laugh. She made her way forward, cautiously, and kneeled down. “Are you,” she asked between giggles, “alright?”

 

“Noooooo…” she heard Lance groan.

 

Allura helped untangle the older girl from her blanket, and placed it back upon the bed. Soon the mice arrived soon after, a bowl of foodgoo in their hands and a spork glistening in the light. She thanked them and graciously took it, handing it over to Lance who was rubbing her head, a grimace on her face. “Here. Get ready in your suit. I have something planned.”

 

Lance took the bowl and looked up to Allura incredulously. “Allura. It's like. Way too early for me.”

 

Allura made a dismissal motion with the flick of her wrist. “Nonsense! It's never too early to spar.”

 

“Spar?”

 

Allura nodded. “Spar.”

 

“And uh…” Lance took a bite of the foodgoo, “why are we sparring?”

 

“Why, it's Altean tradition.” Allura placed her hands upon her hip as she rose from her kneeling position on the floor.

 

Lance stopped chewing her food. “Oh. Of course, Altean tradition! My bad, I had totally forgotten.” She placed a hand upon her chest in faint disgrace.

 

Allura furrowed her eyes, giving Lance a scrutinizing glare. “Are you being sarcastic with me?”

 

“Snarky, actually.” Lance corrected as she took another bite of her foodgoo. Allura groaned. Humans and their vocal emotions.

 

“No matter. It is tradition for all young Altean women, or any compatriots of the Princess to participate in sparring to further bonding.” Allura was firm on her stance. She gave a small nod to herself, not budging upon anything.

 

Lance looked Allura up and down. “Uh. Well, there's an issue. I'm not Altean.” She made a small intake of breath, meant to be taken in a disappointing, too bad so sad manner.

 

“Yes.” Allura nodded. “ _But_.” Ah yes. The infamous buts. The conversation changers, those that always alluded to a clause one skipped over, or a catch long forgotten. The powerful retort. “You are my compatriot. Or Court Lady if you would prefer.” Well. Allura got her there.

 

Lance took the finishing bite of her foodgoo, and gave the bowl back to the mouse who had been waiting for her. She really needed to learn their names one of these days. “That's a pretty big honour you're placing on my shoulders.”

 

Allura nodded. “The highest of honours as a Voltron Paladin.” She gave a dreamy sigh. “Now, get ready, we don't have all day, not a moment to miss!” She clapped her hands, and with a groan and a few jolts to her joints, Lance was on her feet, stiff as all heck.

 

Lance stretched, and made way to put on her under suit, she was too tired to care Allura was staring her way. “You know, if you want, your sleepwear can become a nightgown if you wish.” Lance turned her head to Allura, an eyebrow raised.

 

“You're kidding me?”

 

Allura shook her head. “Will it, and the magic will obey. All Altean clothes have the ability to shift to our bodies.” She politely informed. “You can try later. Now, come. We have an exciting time ahead of us!” She almost squealed and jumped in delight.

 

“Yay.” Much sarcastic enthusiasm. Allura ignored Lance and dragged her along once she was fully in her paladin attire.

 

Lance stood awkwardly across from Allura, looking down to her hands to the Bayard she held. What were they doing? Hand to hand? Weapon to weapon? Lance looked up curiously when Allura gestured to put her Bayard away. Now all Lance had left to do was fidget awkwardly.

 

Allura cleared her throat. “How much do you know about hand-to-hand combat?”

 

Lance stood there with her mouth slightly hung open, trying to see what, and what did not qualify as hand-to-hand combat. “Uhhhhh. Blocking? And my sick roundhouse kicks.” Lance took a stance Allura was not familiar with and gave a strong kick, leg high. Alright, Allura noted. Lance was flexible. Now if she knew how to use that to her advantage, it would be an asset in battle. So far though, Allura concluded, Lance was virtually a sitting duck.

 

“Alright, basics.” Allura muttered to herself, keeping her voice low. “Try to block my attacks. Defence is crucial before moving to offence.” Allura recited.

 

“Alright,” Lance took on another bizarre stance Allura was unfamiliar with, though appropriate. Her centre of balance was oddly low.

 

She came running towards the paladin, a punch, another punch to distract her and a swipe of her Blue Paladin’s leg, Lance was on the floor in an instant. “Focus. Foes will do what they can to win. Be aware of their moves, and one step ahead.”

 

Lance coughed. “So you want me to Sherlock Holmes this?”

 

Allura raised an eyebrow and quirked her lip. “What?”

 

“Never mind it’s—it's an Earth thing.” Lance attempted to push the subject to the side.

 

“Maybe after this you could tell me exactly what this ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is.”

 

Gosh she was always so charming. Lance nodded. “S-sure.”

 

Allura pulled Lance back onto her feet and they gave it another go. It was almost a rinse and repeat. Lance would last a little bit longer, but because she firmly planted herself into the ground with not much room to move. Allura found herself standing above Lance once more, sighing. She was getting better, but only in lasting longer. “Lance, you need to move more.”

 

“That’s kinda harsh, I've totally been moving.” She made chopping motions with her arms. “See?”

 

Allura rested her head upon her hand. “No. As in your feet.” She kicked Lance’s foot for emphasis. “Are firmly planted within the ground. You need to be running. No. That’s not it.” She placed her chin upon her hand, and centred her weight to the left, her eyes up towards the ceiling in thought.

 

“No, that's totally it.” Lance had the epiphany of her life time. “It's just like soccer. Sorta. Not really but it helps!”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Okay, let’s go, one more time!” Lance made a ‘come’ motion with both of her hands, a sly grin on her face as she wiggled her hips.

 

“If you insist.” Allura balanced herself, took a breath, concentrated, and made the first swipe at Lance. Lance, to her surprise, sidestepped it easily. Using her feet, she made Allura trip. Allura hopped on her foot, and felt something push her forward. She landed flat on her stomach, with a frown and a painfully groan, she rolled over, making eye contact with blue eyes as the taller girl stood above her; the widest grin she had ever seen.

 

“So? How’d I do?” She outstretched her hand for Allura, who graciously took it.

 

“Marvellous, actually.” She praised. She stared into those blue eyes, and she felt herself slowly lean forward. “You caught me off guard, I have to say. I will have to go less lightly next time.”

 

“This was you on easy mode?” Lance asked incredulously. They were almost nose to nose, and Lance noticed the small pink freckles on Allura’s face, and how lovely her eyes were. They looked like a nebula. It was almost like a trance.

 

The door opened suddenly, and both of them jumped back in surprise. They turned to the door, and noticed Hunk, looking as if he had just interrupted a crucial moment. “Um, hey. Shiro said you two would be in here.”

 

“Is there anything you need?” Allura called out.

 

“No. No.” Hunk tilted his head to the left awkwardly. “Just booked the room.”

 

“Then we’ll be on our way.” Allura placed her hand behind Lance’s back and dragged her along. Lance grinned and waved to Hunk as she passed him. Hunk waved back with uncertainty, not sure about exactly what he had just seen. He had a feeling things were going to get hectic now.

 

The Princess had been acting _odd_ lately. Not the usual odd of culture shock between an alien species and himself, but this was quite frankly eyebrows raising odd. She _willingly_ spent more time with Lance. From what he had remembered Lance and the princess weren't… on the best of terms.

 

Now though? It was as if a switch had been flipped. It wasn't quite noticeable at first. They walked closer now, had civil conversations without flirting, it was almost more playful. That was the first notch. It moved to Shiro finding them running along together in the early morning doing god knows what, and he was a bit afraid to ask if he was going to be frank. Finally, he found them walked arm in arm, chatting about something mindlessly. Shiro wasn't quite sure as to what, but he heard them laugh, but something just didn't feel _right_. It was almost like…disappointment? He shook his head. No, he was jumping to conclusions. So what if Lance finally hooked up with the princess? It wasn't really any of his concerns, right? For some reason though… it didn't. It didn't feel right. He could pull the leader card, saying that this could throw a wrench in the team, but that wasn't really true. Plus they were in the middle of a war. If he could permit himself to indulge in the little things, he would. He settled it, watching them walk away. As long as their team wasn't destroyed by this, it wasn't none of his concerns. They were happy, so he was happy, right? Right?

 

Allura twirled in her gown, a giggle escaping her lips. The mice squeaked happily to her, and she could hear their encouragements in her mind. “Why thank you!” She hadn't worn this gown in years. Literally. It had been a bit dusty, but with a few good pats, they were as good as new. It wasn't like her regular dress, which was more conservative in nature. This one showed a bit of skin around her back and shoulders, and she remembered how the sun felt when it hit her in the afternoon, and how the warm breeze felt bristling through her hair. She sighed in a reminiscent manner. She missed her home.

 

“Uh, Allura. I don't—are you sure this looks good on me?” Allura turned her head. She had never really heard Lance nervous. It was almost odd to think of Lance as nervous, but she began to learn about the other girl, maybe nervousness for her was it as rare as a blue moon, in fact maybe it was always there beyond the surface, just like how Allura always felt that twinge of grief and sadness that stabbed at her heart. After all, the pain was still recent to her. After all, it only felt like quintants to her. After all, Allura was nothing more than a girl, no, a young adult with emotions who had gone through peril after peril, but held the burden, or the honour, of responsibility upon her shoulders.

 

“You look wonderful, I'm sure.” Allura encouraged. The mice squeaked in agreement.

 

Slowly Lance stepped out, borrowed shoes, borrowed clothes, and hair a bit longer thanks to the nunvil and time spent in space. It came to about her shoulders, and curled slightly at the end. The dress was one of Allura’s older ones, from a simpler time, where she had been mischievous and ran from her father in the middle of the night to see, smell and dance within a field of flowers, sometimes dragging Coran along with her because it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission back then. She had allowed Lance to wear it because her eyes had lit up at the colour; teal. Allura ushered her into it, as it would only be collecting dust, furthermore. The dress wasn't revealing at all, but showed more skin than Allura’s casual attire. A circlet rested upon her head.

 

“So how do I look?” She asked nervously, she looked Allura up and down, trying to gouge a reaction out of her, but all Allura did was cover her mouth with her hands and gave and awed breath.

 

“Stunning.” She moved towards Lance, who stepped back in surprise. Allura grasped Lance’s hands. “As wonderful as a princess.” Allura’s eyes brightened up, as if she had gotten an idea. “Remember when you said you wanted to get me something sparkly?” Lance nodded. “Maybe at the next swap moon, we could…?”

 

“Are you asking me out on a date?” Lance teased, but her tone was smooth, and yes. Yes she still had a massive crush on Allura.

 

Allura flushed. “No. No… I mean. We are going out so yes it is _essentially_ a date but—” Allura began to babble.

 

“Relax Allura I'm just teasing you.” Lance nudge Allura’s shoulder, a bright smile on her face. For some reason, Allura deflated. Was she…? She noticed little things. The way Lance’s eyes crinkled when she was happy. Her bright smile, not grin, not smirk, but genuine happy smile. It was warm, and dare she admit it she could find herself lost staring into that pure smile. And her eyes. They might not quite be like her own, but they were stunning nonetheless.

 

There was a knock at the door, startling the both of them. “Princess!” Both of them froze immediately, recognizing the voice. “Are you in there?”

 

“Hide!” Allura hissed to Lance, who looked around frantically and ducked somewhere. Allura turned around, hands behind her back and a bright smile on her face. “I'm here Coran!” She called out.

 

“I'm coming in!” He exclaimed. Coran stepped in, a beat in his step, and the notes of an old Altean tune on his lips. He held a tablet in his hand, most likely containing updated information she had asked for. He looked up from the screen, and looked Allura up and down. “A lovely gown, but what’s the occasion?”

 

“Oh, you know me,” Allura waved her hand, a nervous laugh escaping her mouth as she gave quick double takes back to Lance’s hiding place, “I always like trying on sparkly things.”

 

Coran nodded. “Very true. Now, I remember when you were a young girl, and found yourself into a vat of glitter!”

 

“Coran!” Allura groaned frustratingly.

 

“As shiny as an Altean with the slipperies for the next few quintants!” He laughed. Coran paused. His eyes furrowed as he leaned forward.

 

“Coran?” Allura asked curiously. “Whoa!” Allura felt herself being pulled behind Coran as he attempted to protect her from god knows what. He raised his right leg and both of his hands. His eyes were surveilling the room.

 

“Show yourself foul beast!” Coran exclaimed.

 

Allura sighed. “Coran, there's no one here.” She tried to persuade him away. Maybe he could forget this and move on? No, no this was Coran.

 

“I heard someone laugh, and there! Your shoes and dress!” He exclaimed, pointing to Lance’s totally blown hiding spot. Allura could feel a linger of disappointment slap her in the face like a brick wall. They would have to work on hiding spots it seemed. “I'm positive a Funderhop has taken possession of your clothes!”

 

“Coran.” Allura attempted to interrupt him.

 

“If we don't eradicate it now, it will take possession of all the other clothes in the castleship and overthrow us all!” Coran babbled, following that slippery, slippery slope.

 

“Coran, it’s alright.” Allura tried to reassure.

 

“And then after it takes over our ship, it will take over the world!”

 

“Coran!” Allura finally yelled, drawing Coran’s attention, turning his head back to her. “It's just Lance.” She sighed, gesturing towards the bed.

 

Lance slowly rose up from her hiding spot, both hands on the princess' bed. She awkwardly waved to Coran. “Hey.”

 

“Oh.” Coran quickly recomposed himself, his dishevelled self nothing more than a figment of the past. “You look quite lovely in that dress Lance.”

 

“Uh, thanks.” She still wasn't quite sure as to what to say. “You can, uh, forget you saw me here.” Lance whispered into the crock of her elbow, averting eye contact with Coran.

 

“There's nothing to be ashamed, you see, when I was a young lad like you, dresses were all the rage!” Coran made a motion with his hands, hovering them over his body and dragging downwards in what was meant to be a mime of a dress. “I was quite the looker.” Coran wiggled his eyebrows. Coran reverted his attention back to Lance and saw she had deflated further from previously. He raised an eyebrow and turned his head to Allura, who was biting her bottom lip. “Was it something I said?”

 

Allura looked to Coran, not really saying more, but Coran could tell it had obviously been something he had said. He felt almost awkward now.

 

“Do you want me to tell him?” Lance looked up to Allura, and she seemed to take all of this in stride. Her eyes shone brightly. God she wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell everyone about this side of her, but… but a side of her couldn't. A side of her didn't have the will to voice her wants. Slowly, she turned her head to Coran, who still seemed like a deer in headlights. She turned her head back to Allura, and nodded.

 

Allura smiled graciously, and like a saint, moved with grace towards Coran. She placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered something into his ear. Immediately he straightened up and gave Lance a look, and her cheeks flushed as she looked away, unnerved by the eye contact, but she did maintain it with glances every so often back to him.

 

“A fine young lady you'll make!” He decreed and something inside of Lance fluttered.

 

She slowly turned her eyes to him, something awe and hopeful inside of her grew. “Really?” She inquired.

 

Coran nodded eagerly. “Absolutely! Why I'd say with my guidance you would be as wonderful as the Princess herself!”

 

Lance’s eyebrows rose, as did Allura’s. “What?” They asked simultaneously. Coran seemed to ignore them as he looked Lance over, a hand on his chin, sizing her up. There were humming sounds as he slowly walked around her, assessing everything. Allura’s eyes followed Coran, trying to figure out exactly _what_ was going through the man’s head; with Coran, you never know.

 

“Yes. Yes, I do believe you would make an excellent Lady Royal.” Coran nodded contently himself, a grin on his face as he crossed his arms.

 

“Um, beg your pardon?” Lance asked, not quite sure as to why Allura’s mouth was agape and why Coran had an aura that exuded the fact he had made the greatest discovery in the past century.

 

“Coran, are you sure?”

 

Coran nodded once more. “As right as lickerstick.”

 

“Okay can one of you two tell me what a lady royal is. None Altean here.” Lance waved over to herself, drawing the two's attention back to her that, yes, she was in fact still in the room, and yes, they had had an entire conversation about her and ignored her! God it felt like home.

 

“A Lady Royal is an advisor of sorts. Like Coran, but not Coran.” Allura tried to explain as best as she could to Lance. “I would have asked Pidge, and personally if I may I would like her to still hold that position, but there’s nothing wrong with two having two Lady Royals.”

 

“Nothing at all!” Coran chimed in. He pulled on his moustache, straightening the slight curve before it snapped back into shape. “In fact, a former queen had 10 Lady Royals! It was known as the council of gold.” He sighed in a reminiscent manner at whatever feeling the memory brought him.

 

Lance stood up shakily on her feet. She still wasn't really used to heels. “Neat. But what does all of this entail for me?” She tripped and Coran quickly caught her arm. She readjusted the circlet that had slipped off her head and thanked Coran.

 

“As a Lady Royal, you would be Allura’s personal advisor, but with far more intimate attachments.” Coran explained. “We’ll have to work on your posture.” Coran murmured to himself, but it caught Lance’s ears and she wanted to bite his head off. She didn't suffer through ballet with Lana to be told _her posture_ sucked.

 

“Intimate?” Lance wanted further enlightenment.

 

“Less political and diplomatic and more social. You would not just advise, but be more frank. A second opinion of sorts.” Allura stepped in.

 

“So kinda like we are already?” Lance asked. Lance kinda already advised Allura on you know, _not_ doing certain things. Actually as Paladins of Voltron they advised her to not do a lot of things. Like a lot of things. Wow that list was long, Lance thought.

 

Allura paused. “No.” She replied firmly. She thought it over once more. “But yes.” She conceded.

 

Lance groaned in frustration. “Make up your mind!” She moved away from the two Alteans, and towards the door. “I'm gonna think it over in my room.”

 

“Uh, Lance—” Allura called out, reaching out a hand.

 

“Hasta la later Princess!” Lance finger gunned her way out with a trademark grin. She hadn't realized she was still wearing the princess’ clothing, and was now walking perfectly fine in heels. Also forgot her own clothing in Allura’s bedroom.

 

“Should we tell her?” Asked Coran.

 

Allura shook her head. “I think she’ll realize sooner or later.”

 

She didn't.

 

Pidge looked up from the wires she had been tinkering with, to look up to Allura’s sparkling eyes. She’d been trying to figure out a way to hook up her computer to the TV, and she was almost there. There was just _something_ she was missing and god help her if she didn't figure it out.

 

“You what?” She asked incredulously,

 

Allura cleared her throat, fluttered her eyes a few times and put her brighter smile back on her face. “I want you to be my Lady Royal!” She fluttered her eyes once more as she clasped her hands together, hoping her cuteness was a powerful method of persuasion.

 

Pidge eyed the princess curiously, looking her up and down, trying to figure out her deal. “And what's a Lady Royal?”

 

“I'm glad you asked!” Allura exclaimed. “It's like an advisor of sorts. If you would want, a Princess’ right hand.”

 

“Isn't that what Coran and Shiro already do?” She asked incredulously. It was almost redundant, and what would she have to offer, really? She wasn't special I leadership or anything. She was determined, yes. She was damn determined to figure out how to connect her laptop to this damn TV, but an advisor? Oh no. Oh she would probably not be the suitable person for the job.

 

Allura faltered, her mouth hung open as she processed Pidge’s words. She frowned, and suddenly grimaced, muttering something bitter underneath her breath. Allura turned her head back, having decomposed herself. “No. They would not be suitable for the job. Coran is an advisor, not a Lady Royal. Shiro is the head of Voltron, once again not a Lady Royal. Though he could be if… no matter. There is a _substantial_ difference between a Lady Royal and their positions.” Allura informed.

 

“Which is?” Pidge still had no idea what a Lady Royal even was.

 

“As the title insinuates, you would be in similar standings to myself, a princess, but your role would entitle many different things.” Allura lifted her hand, enumerating off of her fingers. “Confident, guard, advisor, friend as well as information collectors.”

 

“You're kidding.” Pidge asked, eyes wide.

 

Allura shook her head. “Not at all. It's with highest honour I ask you to be my Lady Royal. Coran and myself would guide your training. You would be exempt from certain group exercises—”

 

“Sign me up.” Pidge thundered, setting down her tools immediately. There was a fire in her eyes. God anything she could do to miss group training was heaven-sent. Yes, please, she didn't care just take her now.

 

Allura blinked. “Are you positive?”

 

Pidge nodded furiously. “Absolutely.”

 

Allura smiled. She brushed some stray strands of hair out of her face. “I will see you tonight after supper. Please be on time, we will be waiting.” She informed, before leaving Pidge alone.

 

Pidge sighed contently, before picking up her tools and going back to work. It was a good day. First she got to skip some group training for some probably easier stuff. It was Allura and Coran, so how hard could it really be? And it would be one on one! No more dealing with a team that had a competitive streak and a lack of communication—during practice only, of course. If that translated to battle, she was sure Lance would have cost them a battle long, long ago.

 

There was a flicker as her computer screen took to life onto the Altean screen. She gave out a victory cry. Victory number two! Today was just looking out to be better and better as the moments went by.

 

The door to the hanger buzzed open, and following suite was frantic pace. “Pidge, is everything alright? I heard screaming.” Pidge looked over to see Shiro’s eyes darting around wildly.

 

“Fantastic Shiro.” She sighed contently. “Fan-freaking-tastic.” She curled in upon herself and patted the place beside of herself. Looking to it curiously, Shiro made his way towards her, and sat himself down beside her, looking up to the screen cross legged.

 

“What exactly am I looking at?” He inquired. He stared down to the hands moving on the touch pad on her laptop. The cursor on the screen moved in synch with her hand movements, and Shiro realized he was looking at Pidge’s computer screen. “Impressive.” He praised, pulling her in close for a hug.

 

“That's not all.” She boosted. “I have your favourite movie.” She whispered to him.

 

“Oh?” Shiro asked, an eyebrow raised an amusement. It couldn't be his _favourite_ movie. How could she know his most guilty _favourite_ movie?

 

“Sharkboy and Lavagirl.” She hushed, a wicked smile on her face, as if she knew. She knew full well. “I also have Holes, and the spy kids series.” She quickly supplied. Shiro felt like he was a kid again. “…I also may or may not have some Barbie movies.” She muttered to herself, a slight flush on her face.

 

“Oh god Keith hated those. Along with High School Musical.” Shiro snickered.

 

“Worry not, I have that too!” Pidge displayed her vast collection of movies. It was orderly sorted into categories. From genres, to classic, to favourites, to childhood, to guilty pleasures. They could easily set up a movie night. They needed other ways to bond apart from sparring.

 

“Maybe we could form a movie night tonight?” Shiro offered. Pidge pinched her lips. She made a hissing sound as she breathed in.

 

“Yeah…” she closed her laptop. “About that… I sort of have something with Allura tonight? Maybe another time.” Pidge quickly filled in when she saw that slight fall of Shiro’s face momentarily. His fall had immediately been replaced with an understanding smile, but Pidge still say that tinge of sadness that hugged his lips for the briefest of seconds.

 

“Alright. Another time it is.” Shiro nodded. He stood up, but felt an arm grab him downwards. He looked down to see Pidge, a devious smirk on her face.

 

“It's another time now.” Shiro quite liked Pidge’s train of thought.

 

Allura wasn't quite sure, but she found herself seated beside Lance. At first it had been the only arrangement. She had heard Hunk running through the halls, calling excitedly for everyone to make their way towards the hangar. Curiously, she made her way there. As it turned out, she had been the last to arrive, along with Lance. Coran had been bubbling at the front, inquiring about all of these movies to Pidge. She happily answered all of his inquiries and questions with a bright smile on her face.

 

“Hey.” She looked down, to see Lance already seated, a few pillows and a blanket sprawled out beneath her. She had decided to keep her longer hair, and tied it into a short ponytail, quite similar to Keith’s. There had been some fuss about it, but Lance had settled it down to being an accident with nunvil and she would cut it, soon. Allura knew that was a lie. Lance cherished her hair deeply. She wouldn't part with it. Allura had been brought back to the present when she heard the sound of someone patting the ground. “You can sit here if you want?”

 

“Thank you.” Allure seated herself, straightening out her dress. She looked up to the screen as Pidge eagerly selected a movie.

 

“ _Please_ pick like a Disney one. They’re supposed to be for everyone, maybe it applies to aliens too?” Hunk called out from where he sat at the front.

 

“I like your style.” Pidge nodded as she moved to her Disney folder.

 

“Swan Princess is a classic!” Lance cried out as Pidge skipped over the titled.

 

“Classically overrated.” Keith scoffed.

 

“I admit, it hasn't aged well, but kid me wants to sucker punch you so badly right now.”

 

“If you guys don't shut up I’ll play Frozen.” Pidge threatened, looking back between the both of them as she finally clicked the Disney folder.

 

“Jokes on you!” Lance exclaimed. “I actually _like_ Frozen. Especially Idina Menzel.”

 

Keith nodded. “I have to agree with Lance on that one.”

 

“Oh, oh!” Hunk called out excitedly. “The Lion King! Play the Lion King!”

 

“I second that.” Shiro finally spoke for the first time as he raised his hand.

 

Pidge nodded, appreciatively. “Keith, Lance?” She looked to the two.

 

“Sure.” Was Keith’s curt reply as he leaned into Shiro, feeling himself relax. He looked up, and whispered something, making Shiro chuckle slightly.

 

Lance found herself a bit distracted, staring at the two. “Lance?” Lance looked up. She nodded.

 

“Dude, go for it.”

 

“Alright, grab your tissues cause I'm starting the Lion King.” Pidge started up the film, and the lights began to dim.

 

Allura leaned in, now finding the opportune moment to ask her questions. She kept her eyes on the screen, wanting to grasp every single moment. “What is this Disney?”

 

“To be brief, a company.” Lance hushed.

 

“Oh.” She leaned in once more. “And Frozen?”

 

“Another movie made by Disney.” She hushed once more. This time Lance turned her head to Allura. “If you want, I can tell you more about it later?” She offered Allura one of her trademark grins.

 

“Oh, I would love to!” She exclaimed, her voice low as to not disturb the others. Sounds foreign to her, yet words were as clear as day, hit her ears, and she averted her eyes to see a gorgeous sunrise. “But Lady Royal training begins tonight.”

 

“Oh.” Lance sounded bummed. But she brightened up immediately. “I'll still be there though.”

 

“That indeed you will.” Allura nodded.

 

“So maybe… I could talk to you about it?”

 

Allura pondered the thought. “Perhaps.” She leaned in further to whisper into her ear. “If you do well, that is.” She pulled back, and continued to watch the opening scene.

 

Lance felt her cheeks flush, no longer interested in the film. All she could do was stare at Allura. Be hyper aware of how close Allura was to her, how casual Allura was to her, how—calm down Lance. You're over analyzing things. Lance turned her eyes to Allura once more, catching the awed smile on her lips.

 

Lance smiled. She loved seeing Allura so happy. There was just something about Allura, not just the fact she was a space princess, that was mystical about her. It was in her aura, if Lance was gonna be cliche like that. There was just something about Allura that could never fail to bring a smile to her lips, and wanting her to make a fool in front of her princess crush. Ah, young love. How ridiculous ye can be.

 

She realized they were as fickle as catching lightning. The movie had finished, and Allura was pulling her away, and back to her room.

 

Allura did her best at doing her hair. The mice had helped her with the task. Platt was good at keeping her hair down. Chulatt was small and nimble enough to get those tricky areas, Chuchule and Plachu tackled the main area of her. There wasn't much they could do, but they added a bit of nunvil for some additional length and made intricate braids, forming into a loose bun. She didn't have enough hair for a proper bun. Still, she thanked the mice, and secretly promised them some foodgoo.

 

Allura delicately placed the circlet atop of her head. Allura gave Lance one of her softest smiles, and took her hands. “You look lovely.” She was expecting some sort of witty reply typical of Lance. Some sort of attempt at pitiful flirting she would only groan at.

 

Allura received none of that. It was only kindness, cheeks flushing as hair was moved out of her eyes, and her eyes were averted to the side. She looked back up when Allura caught her gaze, and her cheeks flushed deeper. Lance opened her mouth to say something, but Allura cut her off by strategically planting her lips atop of Lance’s. There was an exclamation, but Lance leaned in further. The door opened and the two jumped apart, fumbling with their clothes.

 

“Number five is here as you instructed.” Coran glanced back to the door, where Pidge was most likely standing.

 

“Thank you Coran. I'll leave Lance in your care.” She placed both of her hands atop of each other and made her way forward, giving a quick glance back to Lance. “I'll see you later?”

 

“Yeah, yeah sure absolutely.” Lance stammered, her face growing redder by the minute. Allura much preferred this stammering. Lance looked adorable—the dress was a real colour as requested, and accented her hair and skin tone in marvellous ways. Allura chuckled, placing a hand atop of her mouth.

 

“I will see you then.” Allura passed Coran and nodded her head to him. He nodded towards her in return and she exited the bridge.

 

Shiro’s head turned when he heard a knock at the door. He wasn't really expecting anyone per say, but the odd visit from time to time wasn't uncommon. He wiped sweat off his head, looking towards the door. “Come in, door’s open.” Without a moment sooner, the door opened up, and in came Lance, twiddling her thumbs.

 

“Hey.” Was all she said as the door closed behind her. He straightened up when he saw her. She looked around awkwardly, unsure what to do with herself, a bit out of breath as well. Had she ran here? “Nice place. Tidy as the last time.” She snickered to herself.

 

“What brings you here?” He raised an eyebrow, moving towards the bed and sitting down. He gestured for Lance to sit beside him, and slowly, she made her way towards the bed, testing out the springs.

 

“I don't know. Just needed someone I guess? Allura and Hunk are busy. No way am I talking to Keith, Coran is with Allura and Pidge is not my go to person for comfort.” She kicked her feet on the floor.

 

Shiro moved his hand downwards, not realizing cool metal made contact with cold flesh. She shivered, and he drew away immediately. “Sorry.” He hushed, withdrawing his hand.

 

“It's okay.” She slowly lowered her hand top of his. “The cold’s kinda relaxing actually.” She shrugged. She looked down to her knees again.

 

So it would be one of these conversations, Shiro realized. Lance had become the odd visit from time to time. She would look down, not being able to find anyone else to talk to and she would just… talk, with no need for a response. Sometimes Shiro would respond, of course, in an attempt to be supportive and not have her go down a self-deprecating path, but she seemed to easily jump back with a nudge in the right direction.

 

It was a new thing for them, but… he liked it. He never actually got much personal time with Lance outside of training, and these were some of the moments he cherished. She was more…? Frank? Walls down, Shiro could see Lance for the complex person she was and not annoying innuendos that for some reason made his heart swell despite the annoyance.

 

She moved back some of her longer strands of hair out of her face. “What's up?” Shiro asked.

 

“Watching the movie yesterday just…” she looked to the door, her eyes distant. “It made me think of home, of my family.” She gave a slight squeeze to Shiro’s mechanical hand. “Gosh you're probably tired of hearing me talk about it by now.”

 

Shiro turned his eyes to Lance, seeing the sad and bitter look on her face. “Hey. It's alright to miss home. I—” Shiro cut himself off. With Keith around, he hadn't thought about his family much. He wasn't as close but… how long had it been? What did they know about him?

 

“Shiro?” Lance’s voice brought him back to the present, concerned and curious all at once. She leaned in closer, her chest resting against his arm. “Everything alright?”

 

“Fine. Your family means a lot to you Lance, it's alright to miss them.” An arm wrapped around his own, and he felt the grip tighten.

 

“I know but I…” she bit her lip. “Is it weak?” She looked up to Shiro, looking for something, _anything_.

 

The question caught Shiro off guard, but he shook his head, allowing to reaffirm the physical connection Lance had formed to give some sort of reassurance. “It makes you stronger.” Lance looked down, still a bit unconvinced. “Look at Pidge, missing her family and her drive to find them makes her strong. And you.” Lance looked up, curious. “It makes you want to protect people all the much deeper.”

 

Lance bit her lip. “Yeah but—”

 

“No buts. No ifs either. Nothing. You're strong Lance. Your love for your family, blood or water, makes you stronger than you could ever believe.” It was a good thing it was his robotic hand, because Lance had given an incredibly hard squeeze in an attempt to will herself to not cry.

 

“Thanks.” Was all she had to say. She sat there for a moment. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. “And what about you?” She asked suddenly.

 

“Me?” Shiro raised his eyebrow as well as his left hand, pointing to himself.

 

“Who else is here? Yeah, of course you!”

 

“As good as I always am.” Was he had to say. She frowned only slightly, before going back to a smile.

 

“That’s good to hear then.” She sounded resigned almost to what she was hearing. “I feel kinda bad just coming here and dumping all of my crud on you. You sure you're okay with it? You can like, just ban me from your room if you're annoyed.”

 

Shiro shook his head. “Really, it's okay. I'm not annoyed with you. I'm glad you trust me enough to come talk to me. I'm always here if you need it.”

 

“Oh.” She sounded surprised. “Okay that's great. Glad to hear it cause like I really don't talk to you a lot and I don't want your only impression of myself to be some mess and not the badass I am.” She gave a hearty smirk.

 

Shiro smiled. There was the Lance he knew. “My impression of you is far from that.”

 

“What, the badass I am? Dang it.” She snapped her fingers and frowned.

 

Shiro chuckled. “No. A mess I mean.” _If anyone is a mess it's me_ , Shiro thought, as he watched Lance look up, awe on her face.

 

“So I am a badass?” She sounded so hopeful, and Shiro felt his heart melt. He could almost see twinkles in her eyes as her smile was soft and wide.

 

“A badass sharpshooter.” Lance’s smile grew brighter as he praised her. Her hands pumped upwards in excitement, as if her dream was coming true.

 

Shiro chuckled. “Yeah, you're our badass sharpshooter.” He ruffled her hair.

 

“I'm quoting you on that.” Lance said, her tone and expression the most serious Shiro had ever seen. It almost felt like whiplash.

 

There was something inside of him that was living. He hoped she would, despite his later annoyance and embarrassment. He wholeheartedly hoped she would.

 

Shiro wasn't quite sure when he had found the room the first time. It was a night he couldn't sleep, about as plain as any other night. He woke up in cold sweats, shaking to the core as he panted for breath. The sheets felt like chains and the bed felt uncomfortable on his back. He would quick his legs over the side, attempt to even out his breathing and stagger out of his room late at night, dazed and confused. On one of those late night ventures, he found a room. He often found rooms, room he was never sure what exactly were their specific purpose. It was hard to know with aliens. This room though, this room’s purpose was blatantly clear. It was a surveillance room. He had stepped into the room, and screens flashed to life, showing the going ons of the castle.

 

It was almost satisfying, being able to monitor every single knock and cranny, moving between holo screens, scrutinizing every single one and evaluating them. For once he felt some sort of control. Late at night, he could find himself sitting in here, alone, and somehow finding his way to sleep.

 

This time he found himself amused by Allura and Coran. There was audio to the feed, so he switched between screens, catching bits and pieces of conversations. Allura was showing Pidge how to dress, and trying on various clothes. Coran, on the other hand, was tutting and rearranging Lance, making sure she walked a certain way, held herself a certain and looked a certain way. It was entertaining to say the least. He checked in on Keith and Hunk. Previously when he had checked in on them, they have been fighting over and what movie to watch, ditching priorities for some well-needed distraction. Now they had found themselves enthralled by some obscure film he couldn't quite put his name on. There seemed to be subtitles on. He couldn't quite make out the language.

 

Flipping back to Pidge, he watched her walk in and out with dress, after dress, after dress. One more awkwardly fitting than the last. It was clear Allura was getting to her wits end with this. Pidge was obviously snickering. She was just teasing Allura. He knew she knew full well how to wear dresses, and what suited her and what she liked. Shiro sighed. Poor Allura.

 

He flipped over to Lance and Coran, who found himself readjusting Lance once more. He walked forward, walking in a certain way, before spinning and striking a pose. Lance nodded and began to mimic, before throwing and hitting something at the other end of the bridge. A practice dummy. She hit a practice dummy.

 

“Excellent marksmanship! Your knife throwing is superb.” Coran ruffled Lance’s hair, who only bloomed under the praise. He hadn't exactly been expecting that, and almost fell over in his seat. Though Shiro took note, Lance worked well with praise. Still. Coran knowing form for knife throwing?

 

“Sneaking out of the Garrison and going to those local bars really did pay off…” Shiro heard Lance mutter. There was some sort of groan that escaped his lips. “Expect nothin’ less from this team's sharpshooter.” She winked to Coran and gave him a huge grin. Coran chuckled in response.

 

“Your footwork is still sloppy, though, and using your hand to aim makes it too obvious for enemies.” Coran pointed out, as he gently tapped Lance’s foot with his own. And eyed her hand.

 

Lance, in return, groaned. “What is it with everyone and my footwork! Guys, I have great footwork okay! I was a _soccer player._ ” She huffed as she placed a hand on her hip.

 

“As graceful as a winderton.” Coran smiled. “But sometimes winderton’s take wrong steps. Now from the top! Great Paladins practice night and day to get this ingrained into their muscle memory.” Coran jeered, as he raised a hand with a pointed finger.

 

“I thought I was training to be a Lady Royal?” Lance asked incredulously.

 

“Indeed you are.” Coran confirmed for her. “Now, from the top!”

 

Lance groaned once more, but complied.

 

Sometimes Shiro would happen upon these training schedules. He would find Lance, a bit tired from the repetitive practice under Coran’s watchful eye, or a bit bruised from sparring with Allura. Pidge herself seemed a bit under the weather, and he was thinking maybe this was a bit too far? Maybe from him it sounded ludicrous, but there was training and then there was exhaustion, and they soon began walking that fine line. It was good to be exhausted, he had to admit. It pushed their limits, and built up their endurance, but the fumbling during training, the distractions and the stupor were not helpful to the team. It began to become detrimental and he found himself wanting to bring this up to Allura, revealing what he knew and saying maybe what she was doing was a bit excessive.

 

He withdrew though, and watched. He watched slowly as their sluggishness became something else. It was working through the fatigue. It was pushing one’s limits to exertion to get the job done, and maybe Allura had in fact wanted to teach them some sort of lesson, one that was self learnt and not taught. It was a pity though she had not done it with Hunk or even Keith, and made this a group bonding. Though, he still wasn't quite sure _what_ Pidge and Lance were training for.

 

He wasn't sure if it was his place to inquire either.

 

He stumbled upon Lance in the training deck, a gladiator at the ready and a knife in hand. She was concentrated on hitting her target while her target moved. Shiro noted Keith sitting in the corner, examining Lance, her form and her movements. Shiro walked up to him, realizing Lance had no clue that either of them were there.

 

“Hey.” Shiro called out as he sat right next to Keith.

 

“He's never touched a knife before.” Keith spoke suddenly.

 

“And hello to you too.” Shiro hummed as he gently pat Keith’s elbow.

 

“Have you been teaching him?” Keith inquired, turning his head to Shiro, a fire in his eyes.

 

Shiro shook his head. “He hasn't been showing up to practice with me.” Keith hummed as he turned his eyes back to Lance.

 

“His forms too good for someone who's never handled a knife before.” Keith muttered furiously, trying to figure out _what_ was going on.

 

“Beginner’s luck?” Keith’s head whipped around immediately, the largest glare Shiro had ever seen in his life. Shiro raised his hands in resignation. “Maybe he knew before how to use a knife?” Shiro offered up.

 

“He has no hand to hand combat experience or knife training.” Keith informed him. There was a pause. “We were paired up back at the Garrison one time. The fight only lasted two seconds.”

 

“Keith, you might be overthinking. It's possible he picked up from observing you?” Shiro offered reassuringly, but Keith’s eyes were dead set on Lance, observing her throws, trying to figure her out like some puzzle to unravel.

 

“I haven't been practicing knife throwing.” Was all he had to say.

 

The simulation ended, and Lance wiped away the sweat accumulating on her forehead. She sighed in contempt. She might have been sloppy at first, but she was getting there. Her only issues still were finding a covert hiding place for the knife and being able to remove it in an orderly manner. She had considered hiding it in her chest area like how she saw Pidge casually slide her phone there, but she was sure it would be awkward. For one: she wasn't Pidge. For two: the knife would be painful.

 

“Good job.” She jumped and turned around, noting Shiro and Keith's presence. Keith was frowning, while Shiro had a smile on his face, proud of Lance. Something in her little heart swelled. She loved the way Shiro smiled. It was soft, and so rare and it made her want to melt away.

 

“Thanks, I've been working on my ninja skills.” She mimicked a pose, and her brain was slapping her for second-hand embarrassment. Ninja moves? Really Lance? What are we? Naruto? _God she wished_.

 

“Hopefully you can make them space ninja moves.” Playing along with Lance was sure to make her happy and lo and behold, a large grin grew across her face, and something in his heart swelled. He wasn't quite sure _what_ but it was a nice feeling, and seeing her eyes twinkle was nice. Keith made a low groaning sound behind him.

 

“I'll be the best space ninja you’ve ever seen! And that's because I'll be the only one, but still the best!” She exclaimed, as she made her way towards the exit. She gave one glance to Shiro, before leaving.

 

He watched the door close, and his eyes trailed, and trailed, and trailed. It took a tap on his shoulder to drag his dazed eyes towards Keith’s concerned expression. “Are you okay? Do you know where you are?”

 

“I'm fine Keith, but thank you.” Shiro turned his head to Keith and smiled, but Keith was still unconvinced, there was a deep frown on his face.

 

“You were staring at Lance.” He said it oh so casually, as if it meant something for Shiro. Shiro often stared at stuff.

 

“He did just leave.” Shiro reasoned.

 

“Not just now. In the hall, during supper, during down time. When he’s there, your eyes are always on him.”

 

“And?”

 

“The only time I've seen you stare like that was when you found the best Mac and Cheese.” There was a smirk on his face, as if he knew something, or finally understood something. Personally Shiro found that a bit annoying and he rolled his eyes.

 

“Please don't compare Lance to Mac and Cheese.” Shiro looked up to the ceiling. Mentioning mac and cheese made him realize he _really_ wanted mac and cheese. Maybe he could convince Hunk to make some. The guy was getting better with baking and Shiro heard he had apparently found some sort of cheese.

 

“Oh, yeah, I wouldn't want to stoop Lance to mac and cheese’s level.” Keith snickered, and Shiro wondered how long it had been since he last heard Keith snicker. Awhile. More than a year. It was a sound he missed; he couldn't find himself being annoyed at the guy.

 

“Keith.” Shiro warned, while gently patting his back.

 

“Shiro.” Keith looked up to lock his eyes with Shiro’s. For once _he_ was able to tease Shiro. From when they were kids Shiro was always teasing him, and it’d grind his gears. Not in the cruel teasing, but more in the annoying overly affectionate friend teasing. Now here Shiro was, with the most obvious crush on Lance Keith had ever seen and Shiro seemed to be none the wiser, or was only just making things out. “I was waiting for him to clear out so I could train. He went over his time slot.” Keith sighed as he rose from the bench. He grabbed his bayard which had been on the other side of Keith, and called out for the gladiator bot, training sequence level 5. Keith turned his head back to Shiro. “Do you want to spot?” He offered.

 

Shiro nodded, and leaned against the wall, taking in Keith’s movements and watching him spar, a good distraction from the constant buzz on his mind. Now he felt himself as to having a reason to be on alert.

 

“I want to tell Shiro.” Allura looked to Lance as she sat on the bed. They were in Lance’s room this time, sitting together on the bed, relaxing in one another’s presence.

 

“What brought this?” Allura inquired.

 

Lance lied her head down upon Allura’s chest, looking up to her beautiful blue and pink eyes. “I've been talking to him a lot lately and thinking about things he’s said.”

 

“Why not Hunk?” Allura brushed a hand through Lance’s.

 

“I don't know? I love the guy so much but like. Maybe I should just tell everyone all at once? One by one? I mean I really want to tell Hunk, like he's my dude, my main man but…”

 

“But…?” Allura raised an eyebrow.

 

“Shiro understands.” He would understand her. He would be there to back her up, he would be there to help quelch her fears of rejection. Her ridiculous, ridiculous fears that were still there nonetheless.

 

“How so?” Allura’s tone of voice was curious as she ran another hand through Lance’s hair.

 

“I mean he's trans too. I could always talk to Pidge but…” Lance gave Allura a wry smile. “It's Pidge, you know?”

 

“Indeed I do.” Allura sighed, her recollection all too familiar with the Green Paladin and her habits. “If that is what makes you comfortable, I'll be there for you.” She gently bopped Lance’s nose. “Like a paladin in shining armour.” She giggled.

 

Lance raised her head, placing a small kiss on Allura’s lips. “What am I then?”

 

“My princess, awaiting to be rescued.” Allura grinned. She leaned forward once more, this time for a much longer kiss.

 

There was a knock and the door once more, and Shiro expected who exactly it was going to be. “Door’s open Lance.” The door buzzed, and in stepped the brunette, but she seemed off. There was some more anxiety as she avoided Shiro’s gaze and went directly to sit on the bed. She awaited for Shiro to sit down with bated breath. Cautiously, he examined her, hoping she would say something before she spontaneously combusted.

 

“There's something I've been meaning to tell you.” She started off. “Everyone, really.” She muttered the last part to herself as she tilted her head to the side, rubbing the kink out of her neck. She licked her dried lips, and swallowed saliva to attempt to alleviate the dryness in her throat.

 

“Is everything alright Lance?” Shiro inquired, eyebrows raised as she gentle reached out a hand towards her.

 

“I'm trans.” She closed her eyes tightly, as she righted her fists around the denim of her jeans. “I'm a trans girl Shiro.” She breathed out, giving a deep exhale, before taking a deep breath of joy. “Okay god that feels _so **good** _ to get off my chest.” She began to laugh to herself, it slowed down, delaying, before trailing off completely as she looked up to Shiro.

 

“I'm proud of you.” He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Do you want me to still call you Lance?” He could finally be comfortable with knowing she was trans. No longer would he feel the need to overanalyze her every single move.

 

“Thanks. Allura she—she helped a lot and you know? Who else to tell then like another trans person who I'm comfortable talking with!” She rubbed the back of neck. “Man that really feels good.”

 

“It does, doesn't it?” Shiro wrapped his arm around Lance, bringing her close to his chest. Her cheeks flushed when she realized she could hear his heart, and how lovely his smile was, and despite how bad he smelled, it was still good to her. God love goggles really distorted perception. Her heart swelled. Maybe she should bring up her crush with Allura? She was a polyamorous gal and she kinda wanted to be sure what was and wasn't on the table.

 

“ _Great_.” Her voice was breathless, and god what she would do to be pinned beneath Shiro as he looked up to her and—same old brain being the same old _at the wrong time_.

 

Pidge eyed Coran as he walked throughout the bridge. She had this theory. Now it was convoluted, she admitted, but she felt as if she wasn't the _only person_ training to be a Lady Royal. Now she never really paid attention to things that weren't her interest and they typically went through one ear and out the other. That was the circle of Pidge. Though, it was these little things that Allura and Coran would say. Muttering about how _they_ were coming along nicely. How _she_ was doing _just as well_. How she had _chosen the **people** she thought were appropriate_. And the alternation between Coran and Allura. Allura seemed to know everything just as Coran did, so it was odd to be passed between the two. It was with all of theses facts that Pidge concluded she was not alone.

 

Now here was the issue: Pidge was the only other girl on the ship apart from Allura.

 

Now why was this important? Because when she had inquired further about what a Lady Royal was, Coran had told her it was a position a honourable young woman, or young women, received as compatriots to the princess. The role was only for women.

 

Now Pidge assumed the Alteans were respectful on matters of gender, seeing as they never misgendered Shiro—or herself for that matter. So Shiro being the other elusive ‘Lady Royal’ was out of the question. Now this left a heavy implication in the air. One of her teammates, _her new family_ , was a closeted trans girl. And did it sting a little that they felt the need to hide? Yeah,  a lil bit. Trust was important for them. Could she understand though? _Absolutely_. It’s terrifying times what they would be going through. It's always a scary process, and the fact Allura and Coran were able to keep the anonymity was amazing on their part. Still, she'd like to be able to say to them, hey! Welcome to the girl squad! So little of us we need to stick together you know?

 

She sighed. This wasn't going to get her anywhere. She turned her head when she heard the sound of squeaking. It was the small mouse, what did Lance call it? Chulatt? It blinked to her. She had an epiphany.

 

“You.” She said, as she reached out to grab the mouse. “You guys know—wait no this is a shitty idea what am I even thinking I would _completely_ destroy whoever’s trust it is.” She fell back into the floor. She had found herself relaxing in the hangar, working on her network to track down her father. Matt was strong, but her father’s network was flimsy at best. Chulatt squeaked to her, and ran up to her shoulder. “You know, I see Lance, Keith and Hunk and I think, which one of them, is it? I don't think it's really Lance because he keeps boasting about how much of a lady’s man he is, but I could be being led astray by his means of putting everyone off path. It could be Hunk, and honestly I wouldn't be surprised. We've gotten pretty close lately. He’s told me a lot about his home life and his moms and he’d come to me when he couldn't find Lance and chat as we watch movies. Did you know he knows how to knit? I remember when I learned how to knit. I never knew how to start or finish my scarf. I only continued until I ran out of yarn.” Pidge sighed as she turned her head to Chulatt, and she rubbed underneath their chin. “And maybe it is Keith? The guy’s a loner, but he’s got a good heart. He doesn't talk much, unless it's Shiro. He always has time for Shiro. But if he told Shiro, and maybe he didn't? But if he did Shiro would have encouraged him to come out.” Pidge groaned in frustration as she rubbed her hair. “I'm over analyzing all of this for nothing!” Chulatt squeaked as they moved around the ferocious movements from hell. “Yeah, little guy. I'm over thinking this.” Pidge sighed.

 

“Pidge, you in here?” She heard Hunk call out for her.

 

“I'm over here!” She waved from where she was on the floor.

 

He walked over to her, and squatted, a bright smile on his face. “Hey, Allura’s looking for us. Says she’s got some big thing for us to go to. She also wants an update on the disguises.” He outstretched his hand for her, and she graciously took it, but there was a blank look on her face, as if she had completely forgotten. And she had. She had completely forgotten about it between the training and the TV configurations and the network ramifications and—there were no excuses she should have thrown herself into that work. “And you forgot. I was wondering why you didn't call for me.”

 

“Let’s go be the bearers of bad news.”

 

“After you mademoiselle.” Hunk gestured.

 

“Oh, tu parles le français?” Pidge asked, a bright smile on her face.

 

Hunk looked back and forth awkwardly, a bit scared to disappointment Pidge’s enthusiasm. “I have no idea what you just said.” He admitted.

 

“Alors, on y va!” She exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Hunk’s.

 

“I still have no idea what you're saying!”

 

“Are you sure about this?” Allura asked, carefully taking Lance’s hand.

 

She nodded. “Hey, I mean they specifically asked for me, so how could I deny them the honour.” She gestured to herself, and Allura rolled her eyes. “Shiro took it well.” She muttered. “So the others might too.”

 

There was a silence.

 

“You’d probably like Earth.” Lance hummed from where she sat next to Allura on the floor, pointedly changing the subject. The star map was around them as they waited for Hunk to collect the others.

 

“How so?”

 

“Well, for one in from there.” Lance leaned in, kissing Allura on the lips. “And two, Earth kind of looks like Altea.” Lance looked down. “I know it's not as good as the original but… it's my home you know? And I feel like you'd feel at home too.”

 

Allura placed her hand above Lance’s, a fond smile on her face. “Thank you. Really.” She leaned onto the other girl, their shoulders touching. “When the war ends, I would like to visit your home.”

 

“Oh you'd love it. The beach is stunning, oh and I would have to warn you my family is _brutal_. They will try to grill you on everything and anything. And my nieces and nephews are _nosy_.… They also might try to grab your ears.”

 

“Your family sounds eccentric.” Allura chuckled. “… but charming. I would be honoured to meet them.”

 

There was a cough, the two of them turned around to see Coran, standing in all of his glory. “I'm sorry to interrupt you lovebirds,” the two flushed as they parted a bit from one another, “but the others are on their way.”

 

“Right.” Allura nodded, as she made the star map disappear. She patted out her dress, removing the kinks and crinkles. She stood proud and tall, while Lance moved to the side, slouched onto the wall. She could feel a glare from Allura about her posture, and as she repositioned herself straighter, she swore a bright smile made its way onto Allura’s face.

 

First came Shiro, who decided to hover beside Lance, giving a court greeting, before being joined by Keith, and she swore Keith eyed her. Finally came Pidge and Hunk, screaming throughout the halls. They skidded to a halt, and crashed. Allura flinched, while Lance made a loud hisk sound in response to the painful situation she was sure they were experiencing.

 

“Right, now that everyone is here, I would like to inform you we have made contact with a planet willing to join the Voltron Alliance. As we all know, certain planets have implemented conditions to our negotiations; this planet is no different.”

 

“Oh no.” Hunk moaned pitifully.

 

“They would like to meet with my Lady Royals.” She looked to each one of them. “Once what they wish to do with the two Lady Royals concluded, we would be allowed to set foot upon the planet to continue negotiations.”

 

“Um, what exactly is a Lady Royal?”

 

“A Lady Royal is a Princess’ or Queen’s most trusted person!” Coran exclaimed. “A woman of class, right by the princess’ side, trained herself in the ways of politics, history, culture and combat.”

 

“But none of us are Lady Royals.”  Keith voiced up the problem with the terms on conditions provided by the planet.

 

Allura bit her lip, as she tightened her grip and averted her eyes. “Not quite.” Was all she said. “Hunk, Pidge, how have the appearance modifiers been coming along?” She quickly changed the subject. Even if Lance had somehow gained the confidence to be honest, Allura was nervous for her instead.

 

“Uh, about that…” Hunk tapped his index fingers together.

 

“We sort of… forgot.” Pidge continued, laughing nervously.

 

“Allura, who exactly are these Lady Royals?” Keith coming back to the topic at hand.

 

“Pidge?” Hunk turned his head.

 

“Hey!”

 

“I mean. You're the only girl here apart from Allura.”

 

“But that would only make one.” Shiro finally spoke, drawing the other’s attention, despite knowing about Lance. Shiro had an inkling of an idea who the other would be, as he watched her turn her gaze downwards. So this would explain Allura’s extra training. Was she planning on coming out though?

 

“What, are we going to have to send one of us dressed in drag with Pidge?”

 

Allura shook her head at Hunk’s suggestion. “There’s no need.” Allura turned her head to Lance, who had been as silent as a mouse during the entirety of the conversation.

 

“You guys have completely ignored me!” “It's me.” Pidge and Lance said respectively, as well as simultaneously. Pidge looked to Lance, mouth a bit wide, while Lance held her head up determinedly. She felt anxiety swell in her chest, but you know? She was proud of herself. She probably wouldn't have come out. Ever. At all. If she was going to be honest. If Allura hadn't found out, she would have _absolutely_ said _nothing_ to her. And Shiro? Well, Shiro was another trans person. He understood. He was safe. She was safe around him. Now with this whole diplomatic thing? Yeah it was a good way to break it to the team.

 

Shiro had been right. It was a coming out, sort of.

 

It was Hunk who broke the silence first. He squealed, moving to Lance to pick her up in a hug. “Oh my god! I’m so happy for you buddy! Do you want us to still call you Lance? Are you still okay with me calling you dude?” Hunk began to ramble. Lance felt her oxygen levels began to plummet. She tapped on his shoulder a few times to gather his attention, but with no success.

 

“Okay Hunk, that's enough, put her down.” Shiro touched Hunk’s shoulder, and Hunk quickly realized his mistake. He gave Lance an apologetic smile, lightly patting her shoulder, giving a chant of sorrys.

 

She breathed in heavily, raising a hand saying to give her a moment. She heaved in and out, finally catching her breath. “Yes and yes.”

 

“Welcome to the team.” Was all Keith said, and a happy smile grew on her face. She guessed it was Keith’s way to show he was happy for her, and honestly it was a nice way to put it.

 

“Yeah, welcome to the team.” Pidge chimed in.

 

“Group hug?” Hunk asked.

 

“Group hug!” Coran encouraged, enveloping everyone into a large hug around Lance. She felt squashed, but god it felt good. There were tears to her eyes, and she could almost feel Hunk rubbing off on her.

 

“Alright, the Wirinx await us. It is impolite to leave people waiting.” Coran broke away, despite being an instigated to the group hug. Allura lingered a little longer, looking to Lance, giving her a soft smile, not going unnoticed by the others as Hunk and Pidge looked to one another, and back to Lance and Allura. “Chop, chop, the both of you! You need to be dressed properly for diplomacy.”

 

“Do we bring the knives?” Pidge inquired.

 

“Do not bring the knives.” Allura sighed.

 

“And the miniature hand gun?” Lance followed up, a grin on her face, toying with Allura. She gave her girlfriend a pointed unamused glare, and Lance retreated from it. “Okay we're going.”

 

The two girls left, followed by Coran on their tail, humming something contently.

 

“Knives?” Inquired Keith, a bit bemused. It would explain Lance’s improvement with them in such a short amount of time.

 

Allura turned her head to Keith. “Yes. As was said, Lady Royals are trained to protect their princess or queen. Hand to hand combat is a must.”

 

“And how has that been going?” Asked Hunk, a bit curious. “And who's been teaching them anyway? Was it you or Coran?”

 

“Alright, for the most part. And Coran and myself have been alternating.” She informed.

 

“Did Pidge know about Lance?” It was Shiro’s turn this time.

 

Allura shook her head. “She did not.”

 

“And how did you know about Lance?” Hunk, always as wonderfully nosy. “Was it like your lion tracking thing? Wait was that the same thing with Pidge too?” He became more excited about the prospect of Allura being a psychic.

 

“…no Hunk. It was not like my ability to track the Lions.”

 

“Okay so how did you find out?” He pursued.

 

She remained silent. Hunk had not been completely wrong on the subject of being similar to Pidge. Almost scarily similar to Pidge. Down to the original miscommunication, as well the mice informing her on the subject. The only difference was that she was in fact not dating Pidge. Who knows maybe in another reality she was?

 

The long silence ended with the return of Coran. He walked through proudly, and moved to the side. “Presenting Lady Royal Lance!” Lance walked through, and despite the furious blush on her face, her head was held high, and her aura was radiating self-confidence as always. She wore something more formal, similar to Allura’s own dress, but one that suited her figure more. The only recurring thing was the circlet around her head. “Presenting Lady Royal Pidge!” Pidge walked through, not giving a care in the world. Personally she would have preferred this whole ordeal to be done with, but if Lance could do it, hey so could she. She wore an outfit similar to Allura’s, green in colour, with a circlet of her own upon her head. It curled in a way that reminded her of nature. And maybe that was the whole point. She was the Green Paladin, Guardian Spirit of the Forest. Her circlet was brown with a green gem that glowed.

 

Seeing his teammates dressed to the nines was something Shiro thought wouldn't happen, quite frankly. Not even a thought on his mind. Now that he looked at Lance and Pidge? He appreciated the clean looks. Pidge was dressed in various shades of green, with a few touches of brown and yellow here and there to give full accents. Her hair was brushed out to make a bob, instead of its natural messy self. Her glasses were placed aside in favour of not losing them. They were her sole reminder of Matt. She would really prefer to not lose them. Lance was… well he never thought he’d appreciate Lance dressed formally as much as he did. She was similar to Pidge, only that her base colour was teal, and her accents comprised of black and violet. She wore a circlet that looked like the waves of the sea, with a small star that glowed blue in the centre, quite similar to Pidge’s green circlet.

 

The silence was broken by a whistle from Hunk. “Looking good guys!” He walked forward to nudge Lance and pull her and Pidge into a hug. “Also the sudden hair growth makes a lot more sense. Your hair up suits you.” Hunk complimented.

 

“I know right? Quite the bombshell if I say so myself.” She smirked as she wiggled her eyebrows.

 

“What am I, chop liver?” Asked Pidge, snug beneath Hunk’s grip. There was a deep frown on her lips.

 

“No, you're the finest dessert ever made.” He pulled away from Pidge, a hand on his chin as he looked her over. He made a few humming sounds, and gestured for her to spin with his finger, she followed, though a bit confused. “Just what I thought, the creme de la creme. You, Pidge, are a delicacy.”

 

“Aw merci beaucoup.” She curtsied, a wicked grin on her face.

 

“I still don't speak French!” Hunk exclaimed, incredibly tired with this overrun joke.

 

“She said thank you.” Keith offered. Everyone turned to Keith, wondering exactly how he even knew what she said. He looked to the others, a bit confused by the spotlight. “What? I took French in high school.” Was all he had to offer. Satisfied, they turned their attention back to Pidge.

 

“Alright, it is time to say your goodbyes. We will see you both when the meeting adjourns.” Allura brought the Paladins attention back to the matter at hand.

 

“Yes, the best of luck to the both of you!” Coran cheered, rubbing their shoulders encouragingly.

 

“I still really wished I had a knife.” Lance voiced out her concern.

 

“Yeah and me my blaster.” Pidge joined the chorus of complaints.

 

“Well, tough luck. You'll have to make due. Now, chop chop, number five, number three, your ship awaits!” Coran pushed Pidge and Lance towards the exit, attempting to make the departure easier.

 

Hunk waved them goodbye as tears ran down his eyes. He was sad to see his friends go, but god was he happy to see them dressed in such a regal way. They looked like princesses.

 

Shiro made his way towards Allura, who eyed the two other girls exit with a critical eye. “Are you sure they're up to this?”

 

Allura sighed as she looked up to Shiro. “Frankly, I'm not quite sure, but I would like to have faith.” She looked back to the door that Pidge and Lance had exited by. “Coran and I have taught them well enough, I have faith they will do well.” Shiro followed Allura’s gaze to the door, and he wanted to feel the same belief her words embodied. He wanted to feel that pride she felt; that confidence all of this would go well.

 

But he didn't, he didn't have confidence this would go well. He had a feeling in the pit of his stomach things would go to hell. He always had that feeling in his stomach, that everything could go to hell at any possible moment. Maybe it was just his mind trying to keep him ready for the worst possible scenario, but he desperately, _desperately_ wanted to believe things would go well. For Pidge’s sake. And for Lance’s sake. His mind quickly showed him the smile she wore when comfortable with herself, so bright, so happy.

 

He looked to Hunk, who was desperately trying to wipe away his tears, proud of his two friends. Shiro turned his head to Keith, who was looking towards the door as well, before sharply looking to the floor, having some sort of internal fight with himself. He finally looked back to Allura, who still held that same proud and determined gaze faced to the door. Shiro realized this would be long. He turned his head back to Keith. He should repay the favour for the support he had given recently. Shiro had time to kill, and what better way to spend it than trying to help a friend.

 

Pidge tapped her fingers on the dash of the pod ship while Lance flew. It had been awhile since she saw Lance fly, probably since the garrison. Really, old habits die hard as she took her position as the communications officer, checking over the screen to make sure everything was up to date and balanced, and then she remembered. Altean. Her cursed linguistic enemy. Now, she was fluent in over three languages. She had no problem learning languages as a polyglot. But Altean, elusively annoying Altean. The bane of her very existence. At _least_ Coran was helping her now, but even then. She groaned.

 

Lance turned her head at the sound. “What’s up?”

 

Pidge waved her off. “Nothing, nothing. Just the lamentation of the lack of bridged gaps between myself and the Altean alphabet.” Another sigh. “How long until we reach Wirintho?”

 

Lance looked back to the dash, sticking out her tongue as she made a humming sound. “‘Bout 30 minutes, tops.”

 

Pidge leaned further back into her seat as she drew her knees towards her chest. Her circlet tipped forward between her eyes, and she carefully readjusted it to its previous position upon her forehead. “Allura’s putting a lot of faith in us.”

 

“Then we best not let her down.” Pidge turned her head to Lance and noted the determined expression upon her face. There was something in her eyes, and Pidge realized it was the same look Allura and Lance had been giving each other earlier. Something had happened, Pidge realized, and she had seen that look before. The same look her father gave her mother, and vice versa. _Oh_ , Pidge realized.

 

They began to enter the planet’s atmosphere, and realized what awaited them was a city within the clouds. They were domes, of sorts, slowly moving with the breeze and the clouds. _Could this planet be like Venus_ , Pidge thought, _with a lithosphere impossible to live in, but an atmosphere livable in floating cities above the clouds?_

 

There was a beeping, and Pidge turned her head to Lance. “We’re getting hailed.”

 

Lance gave a glance to Pidge. “Answer it I guess? You’re the communications officer.”

 

Pidge rolled her eyes, but answered the hail nonetheless. A face popped to life upon the screen, and quickly they realized these people must have been the Wirinx. They obviously were aliens, that was for sure. With antenna that crisscrossed at the chest, no eyes to see, insect-like wings upon their back, but the rest was left to the imagination. “This is councillor Tajil of Wirintho, are you the Lady Royals of Princess Allura of Altea?”

 

Pidge took the reins. “Yes. This is Pidge Gunderson speaking, Lady Royal of Princess Allura.” Pidge turned her head towards Lance. “And this is…”

 

Lance picked up right where she had left off. “Lance Fuentes, Lady Royal at your service.”

 

The smile on Tajil’s face brightened, and xe made a sound of relief. “Wonderful. It's a pleasure to meet you. The imperial flyers will direct you to the hangar. From there we may meet and begin our discussion.”

 

“Roger that.” The communication ended, and Lance relaxed in her seat. “Maybe we can make it back before supper.”

 

“Pass. I can do without the foodgoo for one day.” Pidge crossed her arms as she kicked up her legs. Lance gave her a light tap and a glare, making her bring her legs down to the floor. “I hope they have some cool tech to tinker with like the Olkari or Beever.”

 

Lance gave another quick glance to Pidge before turning her eyes back to the sky, following what she assumed were the Imperial Flyers. “If there are androids, you gotta promise me to not tinker with it.”

 

“What are you, my mom?” Lance’s eyebrows slacked in displeasure. “Fine. But if they give us some cool tech I call dibs.”

 

Lance made a groan, followed by a tsking sound. She rolled her eyes as her body language slacked, meaning she had conceded to Pidge’s request. Pidge leaned further back with a grin on her lips.

 

“By the way.” Pidge called out.

 

“Hm?”

 

“You look nice.” Lance’s face flushed as she fumbled from the compliment. Pidge snickered, knowing how much Lance reacted from simple compliments. She was predictable. Always so predictable.

 

“Earthy tones look good on you.” Lance shot back to Pidge, and yeah. Pidge did, now that she thought about it. She softly fist bumped Lance’s arm.

 

“Let's go get ourselves an alliance.”

 

“Soooooo.” Hunk called out to Allura, now that they were alone. The others had cleared out as quickly as the two other girls were gone. Allura stayed behind, watching the ship make its way towards Wirintho. “You and Lance.” Hunk leaned in, a large grin on his face.

 

“What about me and Lance?”

 

“You know, the looks, the touches.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down in an attempt to get Allura to understand, but she only raised her eyebrows in confusion.

 

“I often look at Lance and come into contact with her.”

 

Hunk groaned. “Are you and Lance dating?”

 

Allura’s eyes widened, a bit confused. “What is this, dating?” She inquired.

 

“Oh uh, well. When a person and another person, or multiple people, like each other they enter a relationship—” Hunk got his answer when Allura seemed embarrassed by the mere mention of relationships. Right. Her and Lance hadn't exactly… tackled that elephant just yet. By her standards she would say… yes? Maybe? Most likely yes.

 

“Do you not have an appearance modifier to make?” Allura attempted to divert the subject.

 

“Oh yeah! You can join me.” Hunk grabbed onto Allura’s hand. “I have _so_ _many_ embarrassing stories about Lance.”

 

Shiro watched as Allura and Hunk ran off to do god knows what. He turned his head to Keith, who shrugged, unsure of exactly what they were doing. Coran walked to the helm, a content sigh on his lips as he made sure the ship stayed in a neutral position. “The ship will definitely be quiet without Lance and Pidge.” He hummed, before leaving Keith and Shiro alone in the common room.

 

“Is everything alright?” Shiro asked, leaning in to Keith.

 

“Yeah. Just over thinking.” He mumbled.

 

“That doesn't suit you.”

 

Keith gave Shiro a look. “And it doesn't suit you either. But I'm guessing this is why you aren't beating yourself so much over Lance?”

 

“How did you guess that?” Shiro raised an eyebrow.

 

“You said you overheard something personal from Lance. You were over thinking things. It's not that hard to put two and two together.” That wasn't… wrong, per say, Shiro thought. But Keith still hadn't hit the nail on the head.

 

“She came to me afterwards, but I already knew.” He informed Keith, who seemed a bit surprised by that. “...You remembered that?”

 

“There's a lot I remember.” Keith deadpanned, gripping the seat of the couch tighter until his knuckles turned white. “A lot.” He gritted.

 

“Hey. Whatever it was. It's in the past.” Shiro placed a hand atop of Keith’s shoulder, attempting to be as non-threatening and reassuring as possible.

 

Keith looked up, a smile on his face for only a split second, before turning back to that of self-doubt, his eyes wavered, and Shiro frowned. “Yeah, but the past isn't the past with Lance.”

 

“Keith. It's okay. Whatever you did, or think you did that you didn't, Lance won't hold against you. If she has any qualms with you, tell her to come to me. We can get through this civilly. People change.” Shiro offered a reassuring rub, but Keith turned it into a hug.

 

“I'm probably over thinking but,” Keith breathed in. “Thanks, Shiro.”

 

Shiro returned the hug with an endearing smile on his face, making sure to hold Keith as softly as he could. “Any time.”

 

Keith pulled away, regaining his bearings. Something hit him suddenly, and he turned his head back to Shiro. “I've been meaning to ask.”

 

“Hm?” Shiro looked up to Keith.

 

“Do you have a crush on Lance?” Slowly, Shiro felt his face began to heat up, as Keith examined Shiro curiously, trying to figure out exactly what was wrong. “Shiro? Earth to Shiro is everything alright?” He waved a hand in front of the taller man’s face, confused with the sudden meltdown

 

“I'm—” Shiro coughed, cleaning his throat. “I'm not sure what could have given you that idea.” He coughed once more.

 

Keith raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly Shiro was going on about. “The way you look at her? How you hover towards her, how you try touching her more—and you're aren't a touchy person Shiro—also you've been talking about her. A lot.” Keith crossed his arms. “You're smitten and it's annoying.”

 

“I am _not **smitten** Keith._ ” Shiro raised a hand to his chest.

 

Keith looked him up and down, the most unamused expression in his face as he stared at Shiro. “Yes. Not smitten. Totally.”

 

“ _Keith._ ” Shiro sighed exasperatedly. “She's with Allura anyway.”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow incredulously, his mouth open slightly, trying find words to say. “And if? You could always ask. Lance is obviously smitten for _you_. She could be polyamorous, you never know.”

 

“That's sweet of you.” Shiro sighed as he slumped further into his seat. “But I doubt it. And I have no right to ask anyway.”

 

“You have _every_ right Shiro.” Keith walked towards Shiro, placing both of his hands on Shiro’s shoulders, looking determinedly into his eyes. “What's the point of assuming if you don't try?”

 

“That's why it's called assuming.”

 

Keith grumbled. “Shiro. _Try_. If she isn't going to date you then I will out of spite.”

 

“Dating someone out of spite isn not a good reason to date them.” Shiro ran a hand through his white tuft of hair.

 

Keith shrugged. “Everything I do is founded on spite.” _It's how I found you_ , Keith thought to himself.

 

“I know.” Shiro sighed. “I know.” Shiro paused, looking back towards Keith. “Promise you won't date me out of spite?”

 

Keith smirked. “It's not out of spite since I asked you out to prom back in high school.”

 

Shiro opened his mouth, the closed it, raised an eyebrow and mulled it over. “Are you sure that wasn't out of spite?”

 

Keith gave him a small nudge to his arm, a smile on his face and a faint laugh on his lips. “You wish.”

 

Allura realized quickly that Lance was a very, very embarrassing person. The amount of stories Hunk had amassed was, by all means, concerning, impeccable and ridiculous. The girl had so much there could easily be a book about her strange tales from planet Earth. As of now, her possibly favourite one was when Lance’s class had dressed as Lance for Halloween in what seemed to be a ‘dudebro’ fashion. Interesting. She would have to ask Lance what this ‘dudebro’ meant.

 

Hunk had gone from embarrassing, to charming tales of their adventures back at what he called the Garrison. She found herself enthralled and distracted for two quintants as of now. Hunk was on a tangent of how Lance had gotten herself into a horrible frat party and had made the worst decisions of her life. She had no idea what a frat was, but it sounded dangerous, a trial only the greatest warriors could achieve, or the fools. But Lance was _her_ fool. A fool that had won her heart with those hideous ears.

 

The sound of persistent beeping broke their attention away from one another. Hunk drew his attention to computer monitor. It was Coran. He clicked to allow the older Altean’s face to make contact with him. “Hey, what's up?” Hunk asked, eyebrow raised.

 

Allura raised an eyebrow as Coran rubbed the back of his head, looking to a screen behind him. “Well.” Panic was rising in his face. “We seem to have a problem.” Was all he said.

 

“What sort of problem?” Allura leaned in closer in an attempt to get a better look.

 

“Um. Well you see Princess—” Coran fiddled his thumbs, not sure how to beat around the bush.

 

“Lance has been mistaken for a Princess!” Pidge exclaimed from the background. “One second we’re leaving for the podship and the next she’s gone! The Wirinx aren't saying anything! They just want to speak to Allura.” She sounded frantic and annoyed all at once, and frankly Allura could not blame her Green Paladin.

 

“Oh my.” Allura said as she rose from her seat beside Hunk. “I'll be there momentarily.” She turned her head to Hunk, who was already halfway out the door.

 

“On it Princess!” He exclaimed. Without a moment’s notice, he was gone.

 

To the bridge it was. Her hurried pace made her arrival only slightly quicker, but when she did, Coran was a pacing mess. In the background, Pidge was still on the line, while the other three began to filter in slowly.

 

“Can someone fill us in on what's going on?” Keith asked, obviously a bit annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of training.

 

“Lance has been mistaken for a princess!” Coran exclaimed.

 

Keith slowly closed his eyes, while he visibly clenched his teeth and balled his hands. “Of course she was.” He gritted out.

 

Shiro let out a deep sigh while he rested his hand atop of his forehead. How many more times they would make acquaintance, he could not say, but he was sure it was fated for many more. “Any ideas on how to get her back.”

 

“The Wirinx keep saying they want to speak with Allura.” Pidge piped in from the back. Everyone turned to Allura, as if awaiting for her to do her thing.

 

She made her way towards the screen. “Tell them I will speak to them.” She put on her best diplomatic face.

 

Pidge turned to the side, calling out to someone. Immediately, she was moved away from the spotlight, and a face with no eyes and crisscrossed antenna appeared. “Princess Allura of Altea.” The creature bowed.

 

“Councillor Tajil of Wirintho.” Allura held herself tall, and attempted to sound as commanding and imposing as she possibly could.

 

“One of your Lady Royals seems to find herself unconfessed.” Xe offered cryptically.

 

“I beg your pardon?”

 

“A princess unconfessed is no princess at all.” Xe continued on.

 

“Councillor Tajil, I do not seem to understand what you are implying.” Allura raised her eyebrows, attempting to process exactly what xe meant.

 

“Love is fickle, and when both parties love another, but are not confessed, it is a great dishonour.”

 

Even peculiar. Lance and she had in fact confessed. Would that mean? Yes Hunk had implied humans were polyamorous meaning… oh my, what if it was someone from Earth? There would be nothing they could do. Or maybe?

 

“Is there anything we can do?” Allura inquired. She would persist. She would not leave until they retrieved all of their team.

 

“Send the one unconfessed. They will know they are the one if they find her within the maze.” Was all Tajil said, before giving the communicator back to Pidge.

 

“Yeah uh. Been through the maze. Not me. Hunk buddy, you're gonna have to upgrade your bromo to romo.” Pidge turned her eyes to Hunk,

 

“Lance might have had a crush on me back at the Garrison and yeah we _may_ have made out _a bit_.” Pidge made a sound as if she knew all too well of this escape. “But me and Lance are bros—wait can I still say bros? Anyway me and Lance are pals before, u know.” He placed his index fingers together, imitating a kissing gesture, sound effects and all. “If anyone, it's going to be Allura.”

 

“Hunk!” Allura exclaimed, her face flushed.

 

“Oh shoot, was I not supposed to say anything?” Hunk flinched, incredibly apologetic about anything he might’ve said that the Princess was not pleased with.

 

“No. No. It's alright.” She regained her composure. “It was a logical conclusion, but sadly not the right one.”

 

“Woah, woah, hold up.” Pidge interrupted. “Lance and Allura?” Her voice squeaked, as if she was finding this unbelievable and hilarious all at the same time. “Okay, so that's confirmed.” Glad to know she was seeing things right.

 

“Okay so I’m out.” Hunk raised a finger for himself. “Pidge is out.” Another finger. “Allura’s out.” A third finger. “Coran’s _definitely_ out—no offence.”

 

“None taken!”

 

“So that just leaves…” Hunk substrates from the people. “Shiro and Keith.”

 

“If it is a person on this ship.” Allura sighed.

 

“No. It's someone on this ship.” Keith said, looking up to Shiro knowingly.

 

“Keith, didn't know Lance was your type.” Pidge voiced her astoundment.

 

“And she's not.” He deadpanned. He looked back up to Shiro.

 

“But she is mine.” Shiro murmured.

 

All eyes turned to him. Keith gave him a pat on the back as he moved forward. “Pidge, tell them I'm on my way.” Pidge nodded, before the transmission closed. Shiro turned his head to Coran, who was still looking at him. “Coran, can we get a podship going?”

 

He was snapped out of it by Shiro’s voice. “Absolutely!”

 

“I'm coming with you.” Allura finally said, moving towards Shiro’s side. Shiro looked down to her, and seeing the fire in her eyes, he conceded. They made haste to the hangar, leaving Hunk and Keith alone in the Bridge to deal with any further communications.

 

“Stupid maze.” Pidge kicked the maze with her foot furiously. Despite the Wirinx’s warnings, she went into the maze, and wow, a waste of time that had been. At every given way it was either a dead end or an exit. She had been furious, and just wanted to get Lance out, but alas, Pidge was not in love with Lance.

 

Really, what kind of alien bullshit was this if she was going to be frank. Like, of all the things to happen, Lance being mistaken for some sort of princess from their mythos—or something honestly she was still confused because they also called her princess. Were they all just princesses? Was that just a thing? God if she knew.

 

To make matters worse, she could hear Lance. Every single annoyed growl, failed attempt at destruction and vandalism, each curse in a variety of languages Pidge had never even thought Lance knew, but as she was jokingly told, the first thing people learn when learning a new language are the swears. To be frank, Lance was _pissed_.

 

Now if only Lance could hear her like she could hear Lance.

 

She watched as the Wirinx seemed to preen and pride themselves with what they had done. To allow a princess such a high honour, a princess from mythos deserves love. And while Pidge had to agree, people deserve love, you know _maybe now wasn't the fucking time for that?_ Maybe I don't know, wait until the alliance, the war, and maybe their lives were over? Just, you know, do it from the afterlife where their alien bullshit couldn't bother anyone? Okay, maybe Pidge was being a bit too harsh, but god damn it all she wanted was one (1) mission where this sort of thing didn't happen! At all! By all means, it was annoying!

 

Now here she was, impatiently waiting for Shiro to drag his butt here—Shiro, of all people—and do this stupid maze so that they could move on with their lives. And hey, if Shiro and Lance got together? Hey cool for them. Pidge really didn't care. All she wanted was for this alien stuff to stop happening. You’d think being mistaken for an alien princess was fun, but it's not. It's really not. Pidge would know. She was mistaken for one four times.

 

She tapped her foot along the floor as the Wirinx chattered. One walked by and handed her a tiny electronic thing. What did they think she was 15 and easily distractible? No. She was 22 and easily distractible. Here was to dissecting alien technology!

 

Lance kicked the door to her room for the twelfth time in the past eleven minutes. Her foot was aching painfully, but that did not deter her drive nor motivation. Lance was a strong woman who was not going to mope around and wait for whatever was going to kill her. And like, she was 99.9% positive something was going to kill her. Who just pulls you away from your podship and locks you in a room with no say or explanation?

 

Oh god what if they were going to do like weird alien sex stuff to her? Wow. Just what kind of luck she had. First big break and she gets wrecked by aliens. Now, considering how much she’s changed from a few months ago, younger her would have revelled in the idea. Now? Well, a bit of her past self betrayed her and the idea was low key turning her on. Sometimes Lance asked herself, God Lance, why are you like this? Oh, I don't know Lance, maybe it's the fact you have the biggest xeno kink ever and you thought the alien from _Alien_ was hot?

 

Lance glared at the door. She was getting very, _very_ tempted to throw her shoe at it. Her foot was throbbing from the repetitive kicks, and the brunette was sure that if she didn't stop it could really fuck her up. Her body was a temple, after all. She took a deep breath. Okay, what would Hunk do?

 

Hunk would first freak out and… for the most part freak out since wow this place was really claustrophobic. Nope, not time to be lulled by the false security of a freak out. Rational Hunk. What would rational Hunk do? Look around the room for something maybe, or try to science his way out.

 

Here began the problem: Lance was not a science person. She might be a pilot, and lucky enough to be picked as a backup for fighter class, meaning her grades were _great_ , but science, in general? Not her thing. When she looked at a technical problem, like, let's say, a puzzle? Well, there was a higher chance she would throw the puzzle out the window before all else. No wait, a better example: the rubix cube. She _hated_ those. It was fun to throw them though, until she got yelled at.

 

What would Pidge do?

 

“Are you sure it's locked?” She heard the shorter girl’s mocking voice, almost a perfect memory of when Pidge had asked her if she had accidentally left the break on before take off. Lance was predictable, at least.

 

These aliens weren't dumb enough to not lock the door, right? … Right? She moved slowly towards the door. Okay Lance, this is probably gonna be locked, but like Schrodinger’s cat you won't know for sure unless you like, actually do it. So is the door locked? Is the door unlocked? She felt sweat trickle down the back of her neck as her trembling hand reached out towards the handle. The material was cool, almost reminding her of metal. She swallowed deeply, took a deep breath, and pressed down.

 

The sound of a grinding door greeted her ears and she never wanted to slam her head into a wall so quickly in her life. Her teeth clenched tightly, she let out a pierced exhale and her eyes closed so slowly she could hear herself sizzling. Lance, you're the guardian spirit of water, cool your geysers. Okay, okay, mellow like water, just cooly make your way out of the room, and out of this goddamn maze. You can do it. Lance nodded her head, and looked on with determination.

 

Lance quickly realized that like rubix cubes, _she hated mazes._ Never. Again. She really, _really_ wanted to kick the structure of the maze, but considered her foot was still throbbing a bit from what she had done in the room, she decided against it, for the sake of her foot.

 

Upon arrival with the castle, the first thing Shiro noted was Pidge splayed out on the ground, tinkering away like a child given a distraction. The second thing Shiro noticed were the frustrated groans echoing off the walls, sounding eerily similar to Lance’s voice. He concluded that they were, in fact, Lance’s voice. By all means, no one could make such a loud frustrated groan in quick succession. He would know. She groaned in frustration a lot.

 

Allura had been encased by the Winrix, who seemed content in discussing further terms of alliance, leaving Shiro alone to make his way over to Pidge, examining what she was tinkering with. He kneeled down, curiously peering at each little piece, gizmo and doodad.

 

Looking up, Pidge gave a startled cry, clutching her heart furiously, her breathing increasing in one quick second, before slowly evening out as she glared daggers at Shiro. “If you weren't you, you would have been on the floor crying for mercy.” She pointed a screwdriver at him—where she had gotten it, he will never know—lip extruded in a firm grimace, eyes half close to seem more intimidating. It did nothing but make her look cuter.

 

“An honour.” He praised, faking a gasp of admiration. Her glare only furthered.

 

“Just go find Lance and get all mushy with her k? She's been screaming for the past who knows how long, and I personally would like her out alive, and her foot in one piece.” There was a sigh, as if she had been the witness to some unfortunate tale. Pidge returned to the dismantled object, ignoring any of Shiro’s perplexed inquiries. He was a bit… concerned.

 

“I'll… be back. Keep your eyes on Allura.” Shiro slowly began to walk off, giving a glance to Allura who seemed as if she were desperately trying to cry for help. Pidge gave her a simple over the shoulder glance, deemed everything okay, and returned to the object.

 

Shiro stood in front of the door, wondering if he was ready to do this. It was a maze. A regular maze. Not the triwizard cup maze. This wasn't Harry Potter. Nothing like it at all. It was far worse. Far crueller. But back to the maze. It was just a stupid maze. All he had to do was step in and he would find Lance. How he would find Lance was the mystery. Here was to having her in one piece, hopefully.

 

At each turn, it was a dead end grinning back at her. She was growing infuriated with every single dead end she encountered and willed herself to not kick it. No. Nope. _Think of your foot, Lance_. _Think. Of. Your. Foot_.

 

She let out a high-pitched sound that was half way between a groan and a shriek. It sounded like an infuriated cat, when Pidge would comment upon the sound later. “Okay wall. Work with me. I'm my own crush. Okay? I'm super hot and I'm so freaking vain that, _I'm in love with myself, **okay!**_ ” She shook her hands furiously in direction of the wall. Her eyebrows twitched as the walls did not part. Not Moses, by all means, she was not Moses. She clenched and unclenched her fists, grilling her head for every single possible thing she could do. Gritting her teeth, she resigned herself to a last resort. “Pidgeeeeeeeeee?” There was no response, but Lance continued on. “I've always loved you okay? Like you're amazing, and great, and the smartest person I know and you own my butt in brawl. So like, please come and get me? Pretty please? I'll watch Barbie movies with you without like, a single complaint. Even that really bad one, Barbie and the pink shoes. Okay? Pidge?” Lance was growing desperate with each passing second, and it was pretty obvious as her posture began to slump, and her voice cracked.

 

“Is that offer also open to me?” A voice at a distance behind her caused her to jump in fright, letting a shriek escape her lips that she would relentlessly deny to her death. Turning around, she watched as Shiro contemplated taking a few steps forward. Nonetheless, he did, and remained a few only inches away from her, so close, in fact, that Lance could feel the warmth he radiated.

 

“Uh…” her voice was strangled in her throat as she attempted to spry sounds to life. Finally swallowing the frog in her throats and wrestling the cat that caught her tongue, she formulated a coherent sentence. “Sure. Totally—tots, I means, if you like those movies, cause I can sit through whatever movie you want as you can like, just get me out of here.” What strength! What will power she had!

 

Shiro reached out, intertwining his hand with her own. “It's a date then.” He hushed, with the fondest look on his face, eyes creased and smile as tender and warm as the sun should have been kissing her skin.

 

The words finally computed in her brain, and she began to short-circuit, flustered and squawking. “I would love too—oh my god I don't know what to say—are you sure? Absolutely sure? I'm with Allura and I just—I know we've talked about this, and like she's okay. Are you though? Are you okay with that?”

 

“Just say yes!” Distant voices yelled, obviously frustrated and wanting to go home as quickly as possible. Enough time had already been spent in the search and rescue. There was no need to spend more wobbling about on the possibilities. It was time to crash in head first!

 

Lance looked downwards, unsure exactly what to say, but without another word, she raised her hand, allowing Shiro to take it. She felt a large hand slowly clasp around her own, and she looked up. She did not regret the action, for she was greeted with a smile as marvellous as the Milky Way, and as soft as duvet. She felt her cheeks heat up and her smile brighten from the feeling. The feeling was cloud nine to her, as they slowly began to make their way out.

 

There was something almost lulling about the motions. The walk was soothing, as neither of them talked much, too scared to shatter the moment and wonder if this was all some horrid dream, or maybe a tragic nightmare. Hand in hand, they walked. There wasn't much to walk really, but they still took their time nonetheless. Lance licked her lips and opened her mouth, but her voice stilled. She wasn't quite sure how she wanted to ask what she wanted to say. It was exhilarating as it was exciting. Her voice croaked once more, catching Shiro’s attention. Swallowing every single nerve, she planted her feet firmly in the ground, stopping Shiro from walking one step more. With a raised eyebrow, he patiently waited for what she had to say.

 

“Why me?” Were the words that left her mouth. A thousand messages were going through her mind and all Lance had to say was ‘why me?’ How wonderful. A model of prose. She bit her lip, trying to not let anything else flow out. She didn't want to be her personal whirlpool, dragging further and further downwards.

 

Shiro raised his hand and ran it down the side of her cheek, pushing stray strands of hair out of her face. She stared him down, her eyes unwavering in nature. In return, his eyes stood as obsidian: unwavering and precious in every way. “Because it's you.” His hand stopped trailing down her cheek and moved to rest upon her shoulder. He stared it down, and following his gaze, she noted it was his metallic arm. “I don't have some grand or fantastic reason for liking you. There's nothing sweet about why I like you.” Shiro paused, turning his gaze back to her, as strong as diamond. “You liked me through the nitty and gritty.”  She could feel her mouth going dry as she willed herself not to get emotional over this. “And in return, I still liked you through it all.” She sniffled, trying her damndest not to cry. Nope. She wasn't a baby. She wasn't a—damn it.

 

A thumb made way to wipe away the tears that came to life. He made a soothing shushing sound, before leaning forward and laying a kiss atop of her forehead. Grabbing him by the collar, she pulled him downwards, hoping her best to give him the best kiss possible. Pulling away, they both gasped for breath, but Shiro seemed the most out of it. He was surprised, but not in a bad way, she realized as his cheeks began to heat up and a small smile nipped at his lips.

 

“Lance, Shiro, we don't have all day!” Pidge’s annoyed voice echoed over the maze. They both could easily imagine the shorter Paladin, arms crossed, lips set into a form frown, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance and foot tapping against the ground rhythmically at a face pace.

 

Shiro rubbed his head, and with a bow, gestured for her to get on her way. Curtsying overdramatically, she began to walk, giggling while doing so. She looked like a mess: hair out of place, sweat sticking to her skin and makeup slightly smudged, but despite that, Shiro still found her adorable. The way there was a small skip to her step, how she kept glancing back, giving him coy smiles before spinning upon her heels and grabbing his hands, dragging him along.

 

In return, Lance noted every little thing about him. She noted how he licked his lips nervously, how his eyes darted back to her now and then, how to sparkle with so much joy she wasn't sure how she never noticed his excitement or energy. It was almost infectious despite how subdued it was. She wanted to see a bit more. She wanted to hear that snort turn into a hum turn into a melodic chant.

 

Upon exiting the maze, Lance found herself engulfed within a tight hug, bundles of hair suffocating to breathe in. In contrast, Shiro found a weight anchored to his waist, not daring to let go, and too lazy to continue walking by herself as she latched onto his leg. _Pidge_. He ruffled her hair, but sighed nonetheless. Shiro watched as Allura and Lance withdrew from their hug, Allura kissing her, so glad she was back, saying how she had not only been annoyed with this entire situation, but scared to loose her girlfriend. The way it sounded on Allura’s tongue reminded him that right, Lance was his girlfriend now too. Had he not done anything, what would have happened? Would she have just been stuck there? … What if he had never said anything?

 

Lance thanked Allura, a few heartwarming words escaping her lips, but not before returning to her cocky self, a sly smile on her face and Allura lovingly let out a groan of exasperation. In response, Shiro chuckled, and Lance turned to him. “At least someone appreciates me!”

 

“You do happen to have similar senses of humour. Both terrible in taste.” She placed a hand above her mouth, watching with clear joy as she pushed Lance’s buttons. A quick glance back to Shiro and Lance was back on Allura like a hawk.

 

“I resent that!” There was a pause as Lance crossed her arms. As if some idea blessed her, a Cheshire grin slowly evolved from her smile. With sly eyes, she wiggled her eyebrows towards Allura. “But you _like_ my sense of humour.” She continued to waggle her brows.

 

Allura’s head fell. Drat. Defeated by her girlfriend so quickly. A brilliant analyst indeed. She knew how to read people exceptionally. “I've been found out.” She lamented.

 

“Guys, all of this bonding is great and all, but, Keith’s patience can only last so long.” Hunk’s voice popped through the radio transmission. It sounded hushed, as if he were hunched over the communications device, hands cuffed to make the least amount of sound possible as he eyed Keith, hoping the other man would hear _nothing_ of this.

 

“Let’s go.” Shiro called out.

 

“The ships should be where we parked them.” Pidge mumbled out, still strapped tightly to Shiro’s leg. She wasn't budging from there. Despite Shiro’s furious look downwards. She was an immovable wall. The things he let Pidge get away with…

 

“So Pidge can do that, but I, his girlfriend, wasn't offered?” Lance asked indignantly, pointing with both hands outstretched. Her eyebrows were furrowed furiously and her mouth open wide in disappointed disbelief.  

 

Allura patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. Without another word, Allura placed one hand upon her girlfriend’s back and beneath her knees, picking her up bridal style with ease. A flush on her cheeks, Lance averted her eyes from everyone as they made their way to the ships. Allura revelled in embarrassment. Her smile grew brighter as the Wirinx whispered in awe about them, making the Paladins of Voltron seem far greater in regards. Once to the pods, a messenger drew Allura’s attention, pulling her away from the group.

 

“So we gotta set up some ground rules.” Pidge sat in the front seat of the ship, eyeing Shiro and Lance who had been giving each other gooey eyes. “No super sloppy PDA. Leave that to the bedroom k?”

 

“Pidge!” Lance exclaimed, while Shiro only simmered in embarrassment.

 

Pidge shrugged, unabashed by her terms and conditions. “You guys can't let this thing ruin our relationship. Or our mind meld link. I swear to god if I see _anything_.” She gave them both the stink eyes as the two averted their eyes from the Green Paladin, too scared to make contact. “ **Sleep with one eye open**.” She threatened, and Pidge was not to be taken lightly.

 

“Noted.” Shiro gulped, biting his lips. Lance nodded along with him. Pidge was not one to be messed with.

 

“Apart from that,” she crossed her arms behind her head and leaned back with a relaxed sigh. She clicked her tongue a few times and let out a loud yawn. “You guys have fun.”

 

“…Thanks?” Lance wasn't exactly quite sure as to what to say. She awkwardly watched Pidge, trying to decipher the girl until Allura returned, obviously realizing she had missed something, and something quite important. Shiro leaned in, whispering he would clue her in later. She thanked him for that.

 

“Good news. We have made an alliance.” She clasped her hands, and they all cheered.

 

“The bad news?” Pidge asked once everything settled down.

 

Allura raised an eyebrow in concern. “No? Is there something I should know about?” She looked around, trying to find a visible cause for the reaction. Lance placed a hand upon her shoulder, muttering it was an Earth expression and she would explain later. Allura thanked her for that. Always so kind in explaining Earth expressions.

 

They embarked in their respective ships, leaving a planet behind. Internally they were glad this entire fiasco was over, an alliance was formed and they prayed, _god they prayed_ , that none of this princess nonsense would happen ever again.

 

But they all knew that would be asking for far too much.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr @ tfwnoshiro


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